Perseus son of Artemis
by son of Hades 12
Summary: What if Percy was a god, not just any god but the son of Hades and Artemis? what if he was found with Bianca and Nico? I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.I'm putting up a poll please look at it.
1. Prologue

**T.P= Third Person**

**F.P/=First Person**

* * *

><p>Prologue<p>

T.P. POV

A lone figure sits in the throne room of the gods, a woman with auburn hair and eyes a yellow-silver, watching an image of a boy about 13 with his father's hair color and eyes a more silver color than a yellow-silver of her own eyes, sitting in the bleachers with two others a boy and girl both with olive skin, black hair, and brown eyes, waiting for a meeting to start, just then the other gods flash in and the woman dissipates the image.

A man with electric blue eyes, black hair, and wearing a pinstripe suit says,

"Now this meeting is to tell you all that Poseidon's son, my daughter, and Athena's daughter, are going to get three powerful half-bloods and there has been sightings of a Manticore in that area what do you think we should do the Manticore is a monster only able to be defeated by large group."

Everyone looks at the woman and she nods,"I'm going now."

She flashes out quickly.

**Meanwhile in the underworld**

A man with black hair and eyes is staring at the same image as the auburn haired woman and he says,"My kids, they've grown well."

He watches as the Vice Principle walks up.

**Later in Maine**

The vice principle/manticore leads the three kids into a hallway and orders them to wait before walking into the shadows like some evil guy in an action movie.

The kids begin to get scared at the shadiness of their principle and in a minute a boy with light black hair and eyes like the sea walks up confidently,"Follow me, no one can beat me so you'll be safe."

"My name's Orion," He said, trying to keep his voice level. "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe."

The girl's,Bianca's eyes widened. Her fists clenched. Only too late did Orion realize what her look meant. She wasn't afraid of him. She was trying to warn him.

He whirled around and something went WHI1ISH! Pain exploded in his shoulder. A force like a huge hand yanked him backward and slammed him to the wall.

He slashed with his sword but there was nothing to hit.

A cold laugh echoed through the hall.

"Yes, Orion Jackson" Dr. Thorn said. His accent mangled the J in Orion's last name. "I know who you are."

He tried to free my shoulder. His coat and shirt were pinned to the wall by some kind of spike—a black dagger-like projectile about a foot long. It had grazed the skin of his shoulder as it passed through his clothes, and the cut burned. He'd felt something like this before. Poison.

He forced myself to concentrate. He would not pass out.

A dark silhouette now moved toward the four. Dr. Thorn stepped into the dim light. He still looked human, but his face was ghoulish. He had perfect white teeth and his brown/blue eyes reflected the light of Orion's sword.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," he said. "I hate middle school dances."

Orion tried to swing his sword again, but Thorn was just out of reach.

WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. He didn't appear to move. It was as if someone invisible were standing behind him, throwing knives.

Next to Orion, Bianca yelped. The second thorn impaled itself in the stone wall, half an inch from her face.

"All three of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

Orion didn't know what kind of monster Dr. Thorn was, but he was fast.

Maybe he could defend myself if he could get his shield activated. All that it would take was a touch of my wrist-watch. But defending the kids was another matter. He needed help, and there was only one way He could think to get it.

Orion closed his eyes.

"What are you doing, Jackson?" hissed Dr. Thorn. "Keep moving!"

He opened his eyes and kept shuffling forward. "It's my shoulder," He lied, trying to sound miserable, which wasn't hard. "It burns."

"Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!"

Thorn herded the four outside, and Orion tried to concentrate. He pictured Grover's face. He focused on his feelings of fear and danger. Last summer, Grover had created an empathy link between them. He'd sent him visions in his dreams to let him know when he was in trouble. As far as he knew, they were still linked, but he'd never tried to contact Grover before. He didn't even know if it would work while Grover was awake.

Hey, Grover! He thought. Thorn's kidnapping us! He's a poisonous spike-throwing maniac! Help!

Thorn marched the four into the woods. They took a snowy path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights. Orion's shoulder ached. The wind blowing through his ripped clothes was so cold that he felt like a Ionsicle.

"There is a clearing ahead," Thorn said. "We will summon your ride."

"What ride?" Bianca demanded. "Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way.'"the boy, Nico said. His voice quivered, but everyone was impressed that he had the guts to say anything at all.

Dr. Thorn made a growling sound that definitely wasn't human. It made the hairs stand up on the back of everyone's neck, but Orion forced myself to keep walking and pretend he was being a good little captive. Meanwhile, he projected his thoughts like crazy—anything to get Grover's attention: Grover! Apples! Tin cans! Get your furry goat ass out here and bring some heavily armed friends!

"Halt," Thorn said.

The woods had opened up. They'd reached a cliff overlooking the sea. At least, Orion sensed the sea was down there, hundreds of feet below. He could hear the waves churning and He could smell the cold salty froth. But all he could see was mist and darkness.

Dr. Thorn pushed us toward the edge. Orion stumbled, and Bianca caught him.

"Thanks," Orion said proudly,"But it was unneeded ."

"What is he?" she whispered. "How do we fight him?"

"I… I'm working on it."

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with something—a little metal toy soldier of some kind.

The silver eyed boy, just stared at Thorn everyone could see the gears in his head turning.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

They turned.

Thorn's two-tone eyes glittered hungrily. He pulled something from under his coat. At first Orion thought it was a switchblade, but it was only a phone. He pressed the side button and said, "The package—it is ready to deliver."

There was a garbled reply, and Orion realized Thorn was in walkie-talkie mode. This seemed way too modern and creepy—a monster using a mobile phone.

He glanced behind him, wondering how far the drop was.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump!There is the sea. Save yourself."

"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered.

"I'll explain later," He said.

"You do have a plan, right?"

Grover! he thought desperately. Come to me!

Maybe he could get both the kids to jump with him into the ocean. If they survived the fall, he could use the water to protect them. He'd done things like that before. If his dad was in a good mood, and listening, he might help. Maybe.

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said, as if reading his thoughts. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

A flicker of movement behind him, and another missile whistled so close to me that it nicked his ear. Something had sprung up behind Dr. Thorn—like a catapult, but more flexible… almost like a tail.

"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico, Percy, and I…" Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other."

"Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," Orion said. "You work for that moron Luke."

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste when Orion said the name of his old enemy—a former friend who'd tried to kill me several times. "You have no idea what is happening, Orion Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" he asked. Then he realized he'd said it with a French accent. "I mean… who's the General?"

Thorn looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

Orion turned and saw a light in the distance, a searchlight over the sea. Then he heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico said.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well… there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" Orion asked. Anything to keep him talking while he tried to figure out a plan.

"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn smiled evilly. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

"Okay," Bianca whispered to Orion. "He's completely nuts."

"We have to jump off the cliff," Orion told her quietly. "Into the sea."

"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."

The silver eyed boy says,"It doesn't matter."

Orion never got the chance to ask what he meant because just then an invisible force slammed into him.

Looking back on it, Annabeth's move was brilliant. Wearing her cap of invisibility, she plowed into the two kids and Orion, knocking them to the ground but the silver eyed boy just moved to the side as if knowing she was there which was impossible and ducked in cover. For a split second, Dr. Thorn was taken by surprise, so his first volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over their heads. This gave Thalia and Grover a chance to advance from behind—Thalia wielding her magic shield, Aegis.

If you've never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened. She uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that's not the scary part. Her shield is modeled after one her dad Zeus uses—also called Aegis—a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa molded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible, most people will panic and run at the sight of it.

Even Dr. Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.

Thalia moved in with her spear. "For Zeus!"

Orion thought Dr. Thorn was a goner. Thalia jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw, with enormous claws that sparked against Thalia's shield as he slashed. If it hadn't been for Aegis, Thalia would've been sliced like a loaf of bread. As it was, she managed to roll backward and land on her feet.

The sound of the helicopter was getting louder behind Orion, but he didn't dare look.

Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at Thalia, and this time Orion could see how he did it. He had a tail—a leathery, scorpionlike tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. The missiles deflected off Aegis, but the force of their impact knocked Thalia down.

Grover sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play—a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to. Grass broke through the snow. Within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping around Dr. Thorn's legs, entangling him.

Dr. Thorn roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form—his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

"A manticore!" Annabeth said, now visible. Her magical New York Yankees cap had come off when she'd plowed into us.

"Who are you people?" Bianca di Angelo demanded. "And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

Orion didn't know what he was talking about, but he didn't have time to worry about it. The manticore clawed Grover's magic weeds to shreds then turned toward them with a snarl.

"Get down!" Annabeth pushed the di Angelos flat into the snow. At the last second, Orion remembered his own shield. He hit his wristwatch, and metal plating spiraled out into a thick bronze shield. Not a moment too soon. The thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal. The beautiful shield, a gift from his brother, was badly damaged. Orion wasn't sure it would even stop a second volley.

He heard a thwack and a yelp, and Grover landed next to him with a thud.

"Yield!" the monster roared.

"Never!" Thalia yelled from across the field. She charged the monster, and for a second, Orion thought she would run him through. But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind Them. The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The helicopter had to be manned by mortals, but what was it doing here? How could mortals be working with a monster? The searchlights blinded Thalia, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.

"No!" Orion ran out to help her. He parried away a spike just before it would've hit her chest. He raised his shield over them, but he knew it wouldn't be enough.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

We were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. We had no chance.

Then Orion heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but Orion's eyes must've been playing tricks on him. No one, not even Apollo's kids at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Orion, thinking the manticore was weak, tried to swipe at him with his sword, but he wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged Orion's attack and slammed his tail into his shield, knocking him aside.

Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like Orion. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried.

Next to Orion, Thalia muttered, "Oh, wonderful."

Orion didn't have a chance to ask what she meant.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

Orion couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. This one was a little younger than me, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast."

She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and Orion, knowing They were weak and dazed.

"No.'" Annabeth yelled, and she charged at the monster.

"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered.

"No!" Orion screamed.

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.

"Annabeth!" Orion yelled.

Orion started to run after her, but our enemies weren't done with them. There was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire.

Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.

"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt."

She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into dust—no, not dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of birds—ravens, which scattered into the night.

The Hunters advanced on the group.

The one called Zoe stopped short when she saw Thalia. "You," she said with distaste.

"Zoe Nightshade." Thalia's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Zoe scanned the rest of us. "Four half-bloods, a strong power signiture, and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Annabeth!" Orion yelled. "You have to let us save her!"

The auburn-haired girl turned toward him. "I'm sorry, Orion Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."

Orion tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of the girls held him down.

"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl said.

"Let me go!" I demanded. "Who do you think you are?"

Zoe stepped forward and smacked Orion and says,"Show some respect."

Orion smiles cockily,"Why should I you are girls and I'm the big strong man."

The young girl looked at him, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."

She looked at the silver eyed boy and asked,"Perseus, what are you doing here? You're father said he wouldn't let you out of the casino until you were aware of who you were."

Everyone looked at the goddess, including her huntresses. Thunder booms and Artemis says,"Well you were going to see your grandfather/uncle sooner or later, why not now?"

She places her hand on the boy's shoulder and in a flash the are standing in the throne room with 11 gods glaring at him in anger, the one with electric blue eyes says,

"Okay, who is he?"

Artemis says,"He's Perseus, my son and god of night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, his domains are a mix of mine and his father's."

Athena yells out,"You had a child with Hades!"

Artemis nods,"Hades caught my eye and I fell in love with him, my son like me is not bound by the ancient laws but even more so, only one law applies to him, he can't take the throne forcibly."

Zeus looks at the boy in outrage,"All in favor of killing this boy?"

All but Artemis', Poseidon's, Hestia's, Athena's, Apollo's, and went up.

Zeus takes his bolts and shoots it at the boy, the boy flinches and right before it touches him the lightning is covered in a gold aura and the old and amused voices of the fate's speak up,

"Don't forget Artemis he is also god of time, I bet you intentionally left that out."

The voices then laugh,"And you Zeus must not have seen that this boy could be your way to beat Kronos, I bet you saw that didn't you Athena?"

The wisdom goddess nods and says,"That is true, I will take this moment to give the boy books concerning his domains and some showing how to control them."

Hephaestus says,"I'll create his weapons."

Artemis smiles,"I'll help him find a sacred animal, although I have a idea."

Poseidon remains quiet studying the boy

Apollo says,"And I'll teach him to pick up chicks."

Artemis smacks him with her bow,"No you won't you'll keep an eye on him while I do a solo hunt."

Zeus growls but does nothing.

Artemis and those that will help the boy flash to Artemis' camp.


	2. Chapter 1

ch.1

**Percy's POV**

When we got back to my "mom's" camp a huntress gave me my bag and the Persian princess looking girl asked,"Milady what is your relation to this boy and your surprised when you saw him?"

Mom sighs and muttered,"She's too smart for her own good."

She saied,"About 70 or more years ago, me and Hades met in the mortal world and I fell in love with him, he was and is a kind, honorable, and decent man, he's wonderful."

The girls nodded but the others gasped and one asked,"But who's the boy?"

Mom nodded,"Mine and Hades' son and the key to defeating Kronos."

One said,"So he's a god."

Another asked,"What's he the god of?"

The last one caught me by surprise,"He looks like a black-haired, male, Artemis, and he's cute."

I looked at my mom to see an amused smile at the girl that said that she appeared to be 13 with blonde hair and shining light blue eyes.

Mom looked at me and said,"Now Perseus, I want you to wait here until Athena gets here and gives you your books then you go to Zoe and Pheobe and get their help with finding somewhere to read, right now think of what you want as your sacred animal."

I nodded and then decided to get Zoe's opinion, I stepped up to the Persian princess girl and asked,"Are you Zoe?"

she looked at me with an angry expression but it softened when she saw my eyes she asked,"Yes Perseus?"

I looked at her and asked,"Could you help me I need your opinion on what my sacred animal could be?"

She nodded,"Well then what are your domains?"

I thought about it and said,"I'm god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins."

She looked thoughtful for a second before saying,"I'd go with creating a new one."

I looked at her and asked,"Any ideas?"

She looked at me with a smile,

"It could be a wolf with black fur, silver eyes, celestial bronze claws, and the abilities of your domain such as controlling time, the night, and can find and lead demigods by reading their godly aura and lead them to safety of camp and it should be able to look at the demigods life and if that demigod is female and had a hard life then bring her to your mother, I'd also advise to have them as your guards so you'll need to make about a hundred of them but out of what I don't know you need to use part of nature or you'll waste energy."

I nodded,"Thanks."

With that said there's a flash of grey light and I turned to see Lady Athena with Hephaestus behind her looking at blueprints, I bowed in respect to Athena and told Hephaestus I was a huge fan of his Talos invention, to which he thanked me.

Athena summoned two piles of 5 books and said,"I want you to read these the first two are about your time, night, and creation powers, then it moves on into the 3rd book which is your abilities all gods have, then it keeps going into your other powers if you could when you're done please hand them to your mother or me."

I nodded,"Of course Aunt Athena, I promise to be extra careful."

She smiled at being called Aunt Athena and said,"If you ever need something call me and I'll come help you, see you later nephew."

She hugged me and flashed away

I waved goodbye and turned to Hephaestus,"Well Uncle what do ya need?"

He smiled,"Well, I have decided on three weapon ideas the first a scythe out of celestial bronze that amplifies your power or we could make a sword out out of Stygian Iron or we could make a weapon out of both of those that could be a sword, scythe, or hidden blade in a vambrace like that game Assassins Creed your dad had a hand in making, although the armor need to be different, light, but strong, with maximum maneuverability so I suggest the hunters of your mother should work on it."

I nodded,"The third one is the most desirable and the coolest of the three awesome ideas although it needs to be a bit smaller in the staff length on the scythe it would always be too long no matter the form since I need to be able to move fast do you have anything I can use while you make it?"

He smiled and pulled out a silver sword and a bow with a quiver of silver arrows,"These will work be sure to remember how to use it you should be a natural with both."

I nodded and he too flashed off soon my mom joined me as I grabbed the first book to put them away. She smiled and said,"Perseus, need help?"

I nodded,"Just putting away my books."

She threw me a silver backpack and said,"This already has a self assembling tent inside and an extra book to teach you a lesson."

I looked inside and the book she mentioned was titled,"How to start a group of immortal followers by Zeus"

I looked at her,"Your god of assassins your own group could be good."

You could hear pride in your voice. I nodded and said,"Okay mom thanks for the idea."

she smiled and said,"Now your uncle is coming to pick up the hunters, I want you to go and you stay in my cabin and make sure no one flirts with my hunters and your sisters, technically".

I nodded and smiled at the thought of having sisters besides Bianca.

We then walked off to the cliff.

Orion told the other demigods about an audience with my mother, Grover turned pale. "The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well."

"How'd they even show up here?" Orion wondered. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."

"And Bianca joined them," the daughter of Zeus, and my aunt, Thalia I'm guessing, said, disgusted. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no good—"

"Who can blame her?" Grover said. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

"But she's so… into nature," Grover swooned.

"You're nuts," said Thalia.

"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah."

Finally the sky began to lighten. Mom muttered, "About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."

"You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" Orion asked.

"For my brother. Yes."

"It's not exactly as you think," Mom said

"Oh, okay." Orion started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a—"

There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Mom advised. "Not until he parks."

Parks?

I averted my eyes, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until my winter coat felt like it was melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died.

I looked. And I couldn't believe it. It was my car. Well, the car I wanted, anyway. A red convertible Maserati Spyder. It was so awesome it glowed. Then I realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my shoes were wet.

The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, the guy had sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks His smile was bright and playful the Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.

"Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot."

"He's the sun god," Orion said.

"That's not what I meant."

"Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"

Mom sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—"

"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see and Perseus, fine boy your son is. You all need some tips on archery?"

Mom grit her teeth. "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on."

The Hunters all groaned. Apparently they'd met Apollo before.

He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically.

"Green grass breaks through snow.

Artemis pleads for my help.

I am so cool."

He grinned at us, waiting for applause.

"That last line was only four syllables," Mom said.

Apollo frowned. "Was it?"

"Yes. What about I am so big-headed?"

"No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself.

Zoe turned to me and the demigods. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta—"

I shivered,"I hope he never does that around me if this is how bad he can do a haiku I don't want to hear Limerick."

Zoe nodded

"I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself.

"And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll."

"These demigods will also need a ride," Mom said, pointing to the demigods. "Some of Chiron's campers and of course my son."

"No problem!" Apollo checked us out. "Let's see… Thalia, right? I've heard all about you."

Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo."

"Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time—"

"Brother," Mom, said. "You should get going."

"Oh, right." Then he looked at Orion, and his eyes narrowed. "Orion Jackson?"

"Yeah. I mean… yes, sir."

It seemed weird calling a teenager "sir," but he must have learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up.

Apollo studied him, but he didn't say anything, which I found a little creepy.

"Well!" he said at last. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

I looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.

"Cool car," Nico said.

"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.

"But how will we all fit?"

"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…"

He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.

For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those Turtle Top shuttle buses like we used for school basketball games.

"Right," he said. "Everybody in."

Zoe ordered the Hunters to start loading. She picked up her camping pack, and Apollo said, "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that."

Zoe recoiled. Her eyes flashed murderously.

"Brother," Mom chided. "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart and you bette not make my son like you or I swear I'll let his father torture you until he sees fit to release you."

Apollo shivered.

Apollo spread his hands. "Sorry. I forgot. Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Hunting," Mom said. "It's none of your business."

"I'll find out. I see all. Know all."

Mom snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"

"No, no! I never mess around."

Mom rolled her eyes, then looked at us. "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoe, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would do."

Zoe straightened. "Yes, my lady."

Mom knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "So much danger. The beast must be found."

She sprinted toward the woods and melted into the snow and shadows.

Apollo turned and grinned, jangling the car keys on his finger. "So," he said. "Who wants to drive?"

The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of the highly infectious males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to me, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

Nico shook his head. "No."

"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

"Can I drive?"

"No. Too young."

"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no," Apollo said. "Too furry." He looked past Orion and focused on me.

He smiled,"My nephew, Perfect, might want to choose an older form though."

I nodded,"I was going to read on the way and learn to use my godly powers."

I then took a book and stated reading and just in case made shadows grab my stuff. I heard Apollo talking as I read I listened in,

"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks."

"C'mon," Apollo said. "How old are you?"

Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."

It was sad, but true. She'd been turned into a tree when she was twelve, but that had been seven years ago. So she should be nineteen, if you went by years. But she still felt like she was twelve, and if you looked at her, she seemed somewhere in between. The best Chiron could figure, she had kept aging while in tree form, but much more slowly.

Apollo tapped his finger to his lips. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen."

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."

"That's my birthday! December twenty-second."

"Which means you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!"

Thalia shifted her feet nervously. "Uh—"

"I know what you're going to say," Apollo said. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky."

Apollo laughed good-naturedly. The rest of us didn't join him.

Thalia tried to protest, but Apollo was absolutely not going to take "no" for an answer. He hit a button on the dashboard, and a sign popped up along the top of the windshield. I had to read it backward (which, for a dyslexic, really isn't that different than reading forward). I was pretty sure it said WARNING: STUDENT DRIVER.

"Take it away!" Apollo told Thalia. "You're gonna be a natural!"

"Speed equals heat," Apollo advised. "So start slowly, and make sure you've got good altitude before you really open her up."

Thalia gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said shakily. "N-nothing is wrong."

She pulled back on the wheel. It tilted, and the bus lurched upward so fast Orion fell back and crashed against something soft.

"Ow" Grover said.

"Sorry."

"Slower!" Apollo said.

"Sorry!" Thalia said. "I've got it under control!"

I decided to get to keep reading and listening in to what's going on. Looking out the window, I saw a smoking ring of trees from the clearing where we'd taken off.

"Thalia," I said, "lighten up on the accelerator."

"I've got it, Percy," she said, gritting her teeth. But she kept it floored.

"Loosen up," I told her calmly without feeling anything since me and my stuff were tied down by my powers over shadows.

"I'm loose!" Thalia said. She was so stiff she looked like she was made out of plywood.

"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."

Thalia jerked the wheel and again threw Orion into Grover, who yelped.

"The other left," Apollo suggested.

I made the mistake of looking out the window again. We were at airplane height now—so high the sky was starting to look black.

"Ah…" Apollo said, and I got the feeling he was forcing himself to sound calm. "A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over."

Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat. Something was definitely wrong.

The bus pitched down and somebody screamed. Maybe it was Orion. Now we were heading straight toward the Atlantic Ocean at a thousand miles an hour, the New England coastline off to our right. And it was getting hot in the bus.

Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he started climbing up the rows of seats.

"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him.

"No worries," Apollo said. He looked plenty worried. "She just has to learn to—WHOA!"

I saw what he was seeing. Down below us was a little snow-covered New England town. At least, it used to be snow-covered. As I watched, the snow melted off the trees and the roofs and the lawns. The white steeple on a church turned brown and started to smolder. Little plumes of smoke, like birthday candles, were popping up all over the town. Trees and rooftops were catching fire.

"Pull up!" Orion yelled.

There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes. She yanked back on the wheel, and Orion held on this time. As we zoomed up, I could see through the back window that the fires in the town were being snuffed out by the sudden blast of cold.

"There!" Apollo pointed. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."

Thalia was thundering toward the coastline of northern Long Island. There was Camp Half-Blood: the valley, the woods, the beach. I could see the dining pavilion and cabins and the amphitheater.

"I'm under control," Thalia muttered. "I'm under control."

I get up and walk slowly and calmly to the front before my height changes and I'm in my 18 year old form I grab the wheel and say,"Aunt Thalia, please go sit down I got this."

She nods and moves,I quickly sat down and started driving within minutes we landed in the camp and I said,"I'm never going to fogive you for this Uncle you should have listened to he from the start she obviously didn't want to but you didn't listen, someone could have been hurt, think first act handsome later."

He sighed,"I should have seen this coming, you're right nephew."

He jumped into the sun chariot and changed it back before driving off.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah, seem so" I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me Perseus talk to Chiron in my place."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

I said,"Grover how about when the meeting is over you show me to the cabin."

He nodded

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Orion said. "He's… well, you'll see.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

The Big House, as campers called it, was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D(Dionysus that was easy to know from how he smelled of wine), the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron smiled when he saw us. "Orion! Thalia! Grover! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," Orion said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Thalia said,"And this is Perseus god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, my nephew and son of Artemis and Hades, although he chooses to go with the Artemis side of things I guess to not feel weird about it"

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

"Well…"

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

I'd been trying not to pay attention to Mr. D, but he was kind of hard to ignore in his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. (Like Mr. D had ever run a day in his immortal life.) A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

I said,"Oh and Chiron my mom's hunters are here."

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about."

He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

* * *

><p><strong>Has anyone noticed that I made Percy a bit more like Artemis I didn't notice til I looked back at it but you know I'm not changing it because Apollo did deserve that.<strong>


	3. Chapter 2

ch. 2

**Percy POV**

"But… Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Now," Chiron said to Thalia, Orion, and me, "perhaps you two should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When we were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"I'll go," Thalia and Orion said at the same time.

Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

Thalia and Orion both started complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if they didn't shut up.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

"Annabeth," Thalia snapped,"She's gone to camp since she was seven, and still you pretended not to know her name!"

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

I wanted to strangle Mr. D. It wasn't fair Grandfather had sent him here to dry out as camp director From what I know he always gets in trouble. It was probably meant to be a punishment for Mr. D's bad behavior on Olympus, but it ended up being a punishment for all of the demigods.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, but I could tell he was having trouble sounding upbeat. He'd practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she'd given living with her dad and step-mom a second try. "She's very bright. If… if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."

"In which case" said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

Orion got up from the table.

"Orion." Chiron's tone was full of warning. In the back of his mind, I knew he knew Mr. D was not somebody to mess with. Even if you were an impulsive ADHD kid like him, he wouldn't give you any slack. But I knew was so angry he didn't care.

"You're glad to lose another camper," He said. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

"Yeah," He growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something—probably a curse that would blast him to smithereens,when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

I took the moment and yelled,"Uncle Dionysus you better watch out if you kill these two you'll get powerful enemies."

He cockily asked,"Like who?"

I said,"Well Poseidon for one-"

He interrupted with,"Like I care."

I continue,"Well there's me."

He asked,"What are you going to do boy?"

I growled and yelled,"You Dionysus have incurred the wrath of me Perseus god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, watch your back or you'll be assassinated and sent to Tarrtarus, don't be outside at night or the nigth it'self will attack you, don't go near those I protect or you'll lose your immortal life for a mortal one, I am now going to protect Thalia Grace and Orion Jackson, Orion for only today though."

Orion glared and asked,"Why?"

I replied,"You're cocky, arrogant, and rude."

"Am not!"

"I think you are back at westover you thought no one would dare attack you get it through your thick skull you aren't the best the only reason I'm helping you is because I respect Poseidon, I warn you now you're just like your namesake, a buffoon who will die if he doesn't change his ways."

I then turned and said,"Aunt Thalia, I would like to speak with you privately outside my mother's cabin in an hour."

She nodded and I walked off, Orion still fuming behind me.

**An hour later**

I just finished the book on how to create my group and the rules I could make, I finished the book on my powers, the godly ones were easy when I did them in the forest without the book, when Thalia walked up and asked,

"What do you need me for Percy?"

I said,"I'm going to talk to grandpa and I need you to come with me."

she nods and I hold out my hand, she hesitantly takes it and we flash to the throne room.

The only ones in the throne room were Grandpa Zeus, Grandma Hera, Aunt Athena, and Uncle Hephaestus.

Grandpa smiled and asked,"What do you need Perseus?"

I smiled and asked,"I'd like Permission to create a group of my own called the Assassins of Olympus, my group much like the hunters will hunt down monsters and recruit members but when a powerful monster or something that poses a danger to Olympus will be assassinated by my group they will only follow the orders of me, the higher ranked members, you, mom, Aunt Athena, Lady Hera, Uncle Hephaestus, and my father, is that okay grandfather?"

He nodded and said,"I grant this, Hephaestus will create the gear as he chooses, Athena will educate the members of how to use your powers, I will bless this group with powers over my domain."

Hera stood up,"I will provide help where I can in exchange you must only call me Grandma as you are as much my grandson as Zeus'."

I ran up and hugged her before hugging Grandpa Zeus and Uncle Hephaestus and giving Aunt Athena two of her books back and then I turned to Thalia,"Will you Thalia daughter of Zeus be the female lieutenant of the assassins of Chaos?"

She looked at me before saying,"I will, what do I have to say?"

I said,"You need to say 'I pledge myself to Perseus as an assassin of Olympus and will follow only the orders of those chosen by Perseus for the sake of Olympus'."

she copies the pledge and then started to glow gold, black, and silver. Then Grandma came up and handed me a gold tiara which I gave to Thalia marking her as female lieutenant.

She smiled with happiness as she stood, I asked,"Well who should the male Lieutenant be?"

She smiled,"May I suggest Nico?"

I nodded,"That's the best idea."

We flashed off quickly.


	4. Chapter 3

**Okay guys, now sometimes during the story I'll have character's say things about the story at certain times.**

* * *

><p>ch.3<p>

**Thalia's POV**

I smiled at my nephew/cousin as he asked Nico,"Hey Nico I'm starting a group like my mom and I wanted to know if you'd become the male lieutenant?"

Nico jumped up,"Yes, I don't like this camp anyway so I'll join my brother of course."

We both smiled at his quick phrase before Nico does an oath like mine and Percy asked,"Will you Nico, son of Hades, be the male lieutenant of the assassins of Chaos?"

He replied with,"Hell yeah!"

Percy materialized a black crown and set it on Nico's head.

Nico jumped up and down before asking,"What about weapons?"

Percy smiled,"Uncle Hephaestus that's your cue."

With a flash the forge god stood before us holding a small box with a red button on it.

He said,"Good, I've made your weapons and enough for 200 members just press the button."

I decided to say,"Percy, please go and get Nico some weapons, I want to talk to my brother here."

He smiled,"Sure Aunt Thalia."

They disappeared into a black tent a few seconds later I asked,"So bro got any news from Olympus you want to keep from Percy?"

He looked surprised,"How did you know?"

I smiled,"A certain goddess told me."

He muttered,"Damn it Athena!"

He said in deep serious tone,"Artemis was captured and a quest will be sent out soon."

Suddenly we heard,"Mom's been captured?"

We turned to see Percy looking at us with sad eyes before his sadness became anger he glared and said,"I'm going on my own quest, I will get my mom back and I won't stop until whoever took her is where he or she belongs and if I find one thing wrong I'll take my anger out on whoever captured her!"

As he got to the end his aura was flowing like a wild black-white tornado.

Hephaestus sighed,"Okay you can be on the quest but we need to get to the camp so lets flash."

Percy laughed nervously,"Uncle, I kinda don't like flashing it interferes with my night domain."

I rolled my eyes and Percy becomes engulfed by the shadows around him.

Hephaestus quickly grabbed me and Nico before flashing off.

**camp half-blood, forest**

**Orion's POV**

"Orion Jackson!" Will yelled, storming toward me. He smelled like rotten eggs, and He was so mad he radiated light_(Hint: This is important continue when you are completely focused)_. It took all my willpower not to cower.

"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" He bellowed.

I balled my fists. I'd had enough of this weak prick who thinks he's stronger then the strongest son of Poseidon to ever live. I didn't need this. "I got the flag, Will!" I shook it in his face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"

"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" He yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."

"You had too many on you!"

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"Yes, it is Sunny Boy!"

"Argh!" Will pushed me, and I was blasted me backward ten feet into the water with beams of light coming from his hand. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs, at my humiliation.

"Sorry." He said sarcastically.

Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Will's face and dousing him from head to toe.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: So Will, how big was the wave really?<strong>

**Will: only two feet high, he had to use half the creek to drench me.**

* * *

><p>I stood up. "Yeah," I growled. "I didn't mean to, either."<p>

He was breathing heavily.

"Enough!" Chiron ordered.

But Will held out his bow. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"

Somehow, it was okay when Annabeth called me that—at least, I'd gotten used to it—but hearing it from Will was not cool.

"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"

I raised Riptide, but before I could even defend myself, Will yelled, and a blast of light came from his hands and slammed into my chest.

I sat down hard. There was a burning smell; I had a feeling it was my clothes.

"Will!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"

I got to my feet and willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.

"Orion!" Chiron pleaded.

I was about to hurl it at Will when I saw something in the woods. I lost my anger and my concentration all at once. The water splashed back into the creekbed. Will was so surprised she turned to see what I was looking at.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said. I'd never heard him sound so nervous. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

And yet, the withered mummy that held the Oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around our feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None of us dared move. Then her voice hissed inside my head. Apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over the ears.

_I am the sprit of Delphi, the voice said. Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python._

The Oracle regarded me with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. _Approach, Seeker, and ask_.

Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. I saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The Oracle spoke:

_Seven shall go west to the goddess in chains,_

_One shall be lost in the land without rain,_

_The bane of Olympus shows the trail,_

_Campers and Hunters combined prevail,_

_The Titan's curse must one withstand,_

_And one shall perish by a parent's hand._

Then, as we were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

Then a voice yelled out,"Grrr, I'm going to kill that Titan revive him and kill him again then revive him again before putting him back under the sky!"

We all turned to see the jerk Perseus, his aura threw me off though, the darkness clung to his skin, I instantly felt like my soul was being pulled to him, and then it all dissipated and he appeared to be calm.

He turned to Zoe,"I wish to go on this quest to save my mother."

I smirked,"Gods can't interfere with immortal affairs or my dad would have raised me and made me a warrior better than I already am."

* * *

><p><strong>Me: So Perce what do you feel about Orion<strong>

**Percy: He's a cocky, selfish, bastard, just like his namesake**

* * *

><p>He replied,"I'm only bound by one law, I can't take a godly throne by force."<p>

I looked at him dumbfounded and I said,"I'm going on the quest too, you'll need the strongest and greatest demigod yo ever live."

Perseus laughed,"You the strongest and greatest to ever live, not even Hercules can call himself that the only he was a womanizer that only cared about the next woman he bedded or tricked or raped, he doesn't deserve to be a god."

I growled and yelled,"I challenge you to a battle in the arena."

He snorts and nods before walking away.

**Later in the arena**

**Percy's POV**

I step into the arena with a smile on my face and my sword in hand, the Sword of Night, my symbol of power, I found out that Hephaestus couldn't make my choice so he gave me the strongest one to fit my needs.

I walked into the battle area with a smirk on my face.

* * *

><p><strong>See the rest in the next chapter.<strong>


	5. Chapter 4

ch.4

**Percy's POV**

I smiled as Orion jumped at me and I lazily deflected the slash. He jumped once more with a thrust and I side-stepped before grabbing his shirt and Will said,"Shortest match ever."

I smirked and said,"You Orion are weak you hide behind your child of the big three status like a scared little kid, Will happens to be the first son of Apollo to control sunlight and he can create it too, you had to use half the creek to doust him in water Theseus was the strongest son of Poseidon and he remains to be, he could use that creek to take down half an army."

Orion growled,"Let go of me before you anger my father."

I then growled back but the growl was strangely wolf-like,"Your father has lost my respect if he's trying to replace Theseus with you, in fact I need to speak with grandfather after the quest."

There was a flash of sea-green and Poseidon had appeared,"Let go of my son before I kill you myself boy."

I laughed,"You, kill the god of assassins, that's gonna happen and last I checked we are in my domain, the night is my domain as long as you are under the sky at night you will be in my domain if I get the chance I'll rid the world of you and let Triton replace you, I think he'll love it."

Poseidon growled and jumped at me, with a wave of my hand the shadows grabbed him, He thrashed and I walked up throwing Orion into the ocean, I placed my hand on his head,

"I Perseus curse Poseidon, may he never stray into my assassin's camp, may he never touch my assassins, may he remember this curse til the day he fades, for if he does either he will be assassinated by me."

With the night darkening and everyone's auras becoming visible and flaring the curse was sealed.

Poseidon runs off once free and I walk to the camp council room for the meeting.

The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room. Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either, except me, Thalia, and Nico.

Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoe's personal assistant) took the other end. Thalia and Nico and I sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters. They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoe started the meeting off on a positive note. "This is pointless."

I said,"I agree, I want to go find my mother now."

"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped. He began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping.

"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said. I was amazed at how different she looked after just a few days with the Hunters. Her dark hair was braided like Zoe's now, so you could actually see her face. She had a splash of freckles across her nose, and her dark eyes vaguely reminded me of an image of dad. She looked like she'd been working out, and her skin glowed faintly, like the other Hunters, as if she'd been taking showers in liquid moonlight. "You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and go."

"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. You're supposed to do this together, even though we count as campers until we get more members."

"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."

"Your" Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."

Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. " Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet. "One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."

I said,"To be honest Dionysus your a fat jerk who wants children to die, you can't be helpful."

"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"

Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

I replied,"Then give Lady Hestia her throne back."

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

I said,"No duh Shit Sherlock."

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."Zoe said ignoring the input

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting. Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

"Four and Three," a shaking Orion said.

Everybody looked at him. After being thrown into the ocean then walking around in my domain, which became even colder than normal winter with my anger earlier.

"We're supposed to have seven," He said, feeling self-conscious. "Three Hunters, two from Camp Half-Blood. That's more than fair."

Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks.

"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."

Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."

"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."

Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first. "This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."

Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was one of the only gods present and gods are supposed to know things, which I do. He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up,

"Well, don't look at me. I'm a wine god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation. Ask Mr.'I'm a powerful god of night' over there."

"Chiron," I said, "the monster is commonly known as the cow-serpent.."

Zoe nod and Chiron does the same.

"One shall be lost in the land without rain" Beckendorf said. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."

There was a muttering of agreement.

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said. "What could that mean?"

I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheez Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"

I said,"Well, there's the titans, Ares, he doesn't care at all, and there's always Poseidon, he could accidentaly kill his children with his anger towards me and of course Aunt Athena."

There was heavy silence around the table.

"There will be deaths," Chiron decided. "That much we know."

"Oh, goody!" Dionysus said.

Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."

"Orion is right," Silena Beauregard said. "Three campers should go."

"Oh, I see," Zoe said sarcastically. "And I suppose you wish to volunteer?"

Silena blushed. "I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don't look at me!"

"A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at," Zoe scoffed. "What would thy mother say?"

Silena started to get out of her chair, but the Stoll brothers pulled her back.

"Stop it," Beckendorf said. He was a big guy with a bigger voice. He didn't talk much, but when he did, people tended to listen. "Let's start with the Hunters. Which four of you will go?"

Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Zoe nodded.

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added..

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

I sniffed and then jumped up,"You two turn that shirt inside out."

They quickly did so to reveal centaur blood, they run away.

I"As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go. And Perseus counts as a hunter considerring his mother."

Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But… I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."

"You will do fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself."

Bianca closed her mouth. I felt kind of sorry for her.

"And for campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing.

"Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

Will stands up,"Me too, I wish to join Persues' group and will prove to him I can be a good ally for his cause."

"Whoa, wait a sec," Orion said. "I want to go too."

Thalia said nothing. Chiron was still studying him, his eyes sad.

"Oh," Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Orion has to go. I didn't mean… I'll stay. Orion should go in my place."

"He cannot," Zoe said. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy."

"You traveled here with me," He reminded her.

"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers in the company of a boy."

"What about Grover?" I demanded.

Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."

"Hey!" Grover protested.

Orion said,"What about Will."

She replied,"He is proving himself to the hunt's brother, Perseus."

"I have to go," He said. "I need to be on this quest."

"Why?" Zoe asked. "Because of thy friend Annabeth?"

He was blushing. Everyone was looking at him."No! I mean, partly.I just feel like I'm supposed to go!"

Nobody rose to my defense. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Silena, the Stoll brothers, and Beckendorf were staring at the table. Bianca gave me a look of pity.

"No," Zoe said flatly. "I insist upon this. I will take a satyr if I must, but not a male hero."

Chiron sighed. "The quest is for Artemis. The Hunters should be allowed to approve their companions."

"So be it," he said. "Thalia and Grover will accompany Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods"—he glanced at Dionysus and I—"present company included, we hope—be with you."

**The next day**

We jumped into the camp van and drove all the way to the Smithsonian museum in Washington D.C.

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><p><strong>There next chapter will continue at the Smithsonian.<strong>


	6. Chapter 5

ch.5

**Thalia's POV**

We were walking through the museum when a small wolf comes up and barks at me it's silver fur shining

Grover yelped in surprise.

Before I could call Percy, Will, and Phoebe over from getting supplies out of the gift shop, Zoe and Bianca had arrows notched, aimed at the wolf. Their bows had just appeared out of nowhere.

When Zoe realized what it was, she lowered her bow. "It's Percy's wolf"

"Percy's wolf" Grover said. "Thank goodness."

Zoe glared at him, and he blushed.

_"Son of Hermes with a scar on his face and a titan,"_ It said in my mind. _"Here in the museum."_

My eyes immediately hardened. I put my hand on my silver bracelet. "Where?"

It told us about a encounter in the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoe looked stunned. "That is impossible! You lie."

_"Why would I lie? Look, there's no time. Skeleton warriors—"_

"What?" I demanded. "How many?"

_"Twelve,"_ It said. _"And that's not all. That guy, the General, he said he was sending something, a 'playmate,' to distract you over here. A monster and by the smell of it, a cat."_

Zoe and I exchanged looks.

"We were following Artemis's trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent… She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found anything yet."

"Zoe," Bianca said nervously, "if it is the General—"

"It cannot be!" Zoe snapped. "The wolf must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

_"Illusions don't crack marble floors,"_ It told her.

Zoe took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. I didn't know why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this General guy, but I figured now wasn't the time to ask. "If what the wolf is telling us is the truth about the skeleton warriors,"

I said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… We must leave now."

"Good idea," I said.

A few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"

Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. I'd seen this monster once before. Last year, I'd glimpsed it briefly from a train. Now, up close and personal, it looked even bigger.

"The Nemean Lion," I said. "Don't move."

The lion roared so loud it parted my hair. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

"Separate on my mark," Zoe said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Until when?" Grover asked.

"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"

I brought out my spear and rolled to the left. Arrows whistled past me, and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes. I turned and saw Zoe, Will, Phoebe, and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. They were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lions metallic fur. The lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the Hunters off the back. Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but I stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled at the sight of my shield. "ROOOAAAR!"

"Hi-yah!" I said. "Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire.

For a second, I thought I had it under control. Then I saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. I'd seen enough cat fights in the alleys around New York while on the run with Luke. I knew the lion was going to pounce.

"Hey!" I heard Percy yell.

**Percy's POV**

I don't know what I was thinking, but I charged the beast. I just wanted to get it away from my friends. I slashed with my sword, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into Meow Mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.

The lion raked me with its claws, ripping off a chunk of my coat. I backed against the railing. It sprang at me, one thousand pounds of monster, and I had no choice but to turn and jump.

I landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver airplane, which pitched and almost spilled me to the floor, three stories below.

An arrow whizzed past my head. The lion jumped onto the aircraft, and the cords holding the plane began to groan.

The lion swiped at me, and I dropped onto the next exhibit, a weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter. I looked up and saw the lion roar—inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat.

Its mouth, I thought. Its fur was completely invulnerable, but if I could strike it in the mouth… The only problem was, the monster moved too quickly. Between its claws and fangs, I couldn't get close without getting sliced to pieces.

I snapped my fingers and a wall made of celestial bronze wall held the lion and it's mouth open for attacking.

"Zoe!" I shouted. "Target the mouth!"

She shot her arrow into it's mouth and it turned into a pelt

"Grover!" I yelled. "Clear the area!"

Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from me, on the other side of the globe. Once the area was cleared we all got together in the middle.

"Take it," Zoe told me.

I stared at her. "What, the lion's fur? Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"

"It is a spoil of war," she told me. "It is rightly thine."

"You killed it," I said.

She shook her head, almost smiling. "I think thy idea did that. Fair is fair, Percy. Take the fur."

I lifted it up; it was surprisingly light. The fur was smooth and soft. It didn't feel at all like something that could stop a blade. As I watched, the pelt shifted and changed into a coat—midnight black coat.**(A/N:Look at Kirito's coat of midnight from Sword Art Online)**

"Not exactly my style," I murmured.

"We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

I noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest us. They were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. A few were running into the walls or each other.

"You did that?" I asked Grover.

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "A minor confusion song. I played some Barry Manilow. It works every time. But it'll only last a few seconds."

"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoe said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of men walking across the lawn. Gray men in gray camouflage outfits. They were too far away for us to see their eyes, but I could feel their gaze aimed straight at me.

We were crossing the Potomac when we spotted the helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one we'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward us.

"They know the van," I said. "We have to ditch it."

Zoe swerved into the fast lane. The helicopter was gaining.

"Maybe the military will shoot it down," Grover said hopefully.

"The military probably thinks it's one of theirs," Will said. "How can the General use mortals, anyway?"

"Mercenaries," Zoe said bitterly. "It is distasteful, but many mortals will fight for any cause as long as they are paid."

"But don't these mortals see who they're working for?" I asked. "Don't they notice all the monsters around them?"

Zoe shook her head. "I do not know how much they see through the Mist. I doubt it would matter to them if they knew the truth. Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters."

The helicopter kept coming, making a lot better time than we were through D.C. traffic.

Thalia closed her eyes and prayed hard. "Hey, Dad. A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"

But the sky stayed gray and snowy. No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"There!" Bianca said. "That parking lot!"

"We'll be trapped," Zoe said.

"Trust me," Bianca said.

Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic and into a mall parking lot on the south bank of the river. We left the van and followed Bianca down some steps.

"Subway entrance," Bianca said. "Let's go south. Alexandria."

"Anything," Thalia agreed.

We bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind us for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later we were safely aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As our train came above ground, we could see the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after us.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it, because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

Now, I knew nothing about D.C., but I didn't see how their whole subway system could be less than twelve years old. I guess everyone else was thinking the same thing, because they looked pretty confused.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," I said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all we thought about was getting away safely. We changed trains twice. I had no idea where we were going, but after a while we lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. I was glad for my new lion's fur coat.

We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow, like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

We huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Will corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Mom was in danger and in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless persons fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now, because we all got our own luxury car. Zoe, Phoebe, and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a got a gold Lexus I got a cool silver Mustang but decided to talk to my female lieutenant . And Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

"Join you?" I asked her.

She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat.

The radio was playing the White Stripes. I knew the song because it was one of the only CDs I owned that Bianca didn't like.

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><p><strong>Review nicely that is all I'm asking if nice reviewing continues I won't put this on hold when I go on my breaks and I'll work on it for at least an hour.<strong>


	7. Chapter 6

ch.6

**Will's POV**

I looked around in my car thinking about how I joined this quest to become an Assassin of Perseus and get away from camp and to a place where my abilities are somewhat normal, I wondered when we'll get to the end of the quest.

**Percy's POV**

As I watched the sun go down, I thought of my Mom. I was afraid to go to sleep. I was worried what I might dream.

"Oh, don't be afraid of dreams," a voice said right next to me.

I looked over. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find the homeless guy from the rail yard sitting in the shotgun seat. His jeans were so worn out they were almost white. His coat was ripped, with stuffing coming out. He looked kind of like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.

"If it weren't for dreams," he said, "I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids." He cleared his throat, then held up his hands dramatically:

"Dreams like a podcast,

Downloading truth in my ears.

They tell me cool stuff"

Apollo?" I guessed, because I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad.

He put his finger to his lips. "I'm incognito. Call me Fred."

"A god named Fred?"

"Eh, well… Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there's a human quest. Even when something really major is wrong. But nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

"Can you help us, then?"

"Shhh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside?"

"The train. How fast are we moving?"

Apollo chuckled. "Fast enough. Unfortunately, we're running out of time. It's almost sunset. But I imagine we'll get you across a good chunk of America, at least."

"But where is Artemis?"

His face darkened. "I know a lot, and I see a lot. But even I don't know that. She's… clouded from me. I don't like it."

"And Annabeth?"

He frowned. "Oh, you mean that girl the demigods lost? Hmm. I don't know, my son probably has that as his ulterior motive, he gets to be accepted and he finds the girl he loves too, too bad that Orion kid wants her too."

I tried not to feel like they were not important. I knew most of the gods had a hard time taking mortals seriously, even half-bloods. They lived such short lives, compared to us gods.

"What about where Mom is, there mus be someone that knows?" I asked. "Do you know who it is?"

"Yes," Apollo said. "There is one who might. If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

"But it's your Oracle," I protested. "Can't you tell us what the prophecy means?"

Apollo sighed. "You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search."

"In other words, you don't know."

Apollo checked his watch. "Ah, look at the time! I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey!"

I wanted to protest that I wasn't tired and I'd never made up a haiku in my life, but Apollo snapped his fingers, and the next thing I knew I was closing my eyes.

In my dream, I was somebody else. I was wearing a ripped up pair of jeans, a worn pair of shoes, a shredded shirt, and a ripped jacket , I walk by a sign that says cloudcroft and into an alley to sleep before my dream becomes blank.

**The next day**

We'd arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The sign said WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. The air was cold and thin. The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.

Even with my lion-skin coat, I was freezing by the time we got to Main Street, which was about half a mile from the train tracks. As we walked, I told Grover about my conversation with Apollo and my dream the night before—how he'd told me to seek out Nereus in San Francisco.

Grover looked uneasy. "That's good, I guess. But we've got to get there first."

I tried not to get too depressed about our chances. I didn't want to send Grover into a panic, but I knew we had another huge deadline looming, aside from saving Artemis in time for her council of the gods. The General had said Annabeth would only be kept alive until the winter solstice. That was Friday, only four days away. And he'd said something about a sacrifice. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

We stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.

I watched as the kid from my dream walked in front of me and I asked,"Uh hello, what's your name?"

He turned,"Jack King."

His eyes a grey color and hair blonde.

I asked,"Would you like to join us we're moving to a mansion in the west, want to come, I have a feeling you'll like what you find and you'll be helpful?"

He nodded,"Sure anything to get out of here."

I turned to the others to hear Thalia,

"Great," Thalia said, looking around. "No bus station. No taxis. No car rental. No way out."

"There's a coffee shop!" said Grover.

"Yes," Zoe said. "Coffee is good."

"And pastries," Grover said dreamily. "And wax paper."

Jack looked at Grover like he was a freak which he kinda was.

Thalia sighed. "Fine. How about you three go get us some food and bring the new guy with you. Percy, Will, Bianca, and I will check in the grocery store. Maybe they can give us directions."

We agreed to meet back in front of the grocery store in fifteen minutes. Bianca looked a little uncomfortable coming with us, but she did.

Inside the store, we found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing, the grocery store sold rubber rats for a dollar each, and there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car.

"You could call for a taxi from Alamogordo," the clerk said doubtfully. "That's down at the bottom of the mountains, but it would take at least an hour to get here. Cost several hundred dollars."

The clerk looked so lonely, I bought a rubber rat. Then we headed back outside and stood on the porch.

"Wonderful," Thalia grumped. "I'm going to walk down the street, see if anybody in the other shops has a suggestion."

"But the clerk said—"

"I know," she told me. "I'm checking anyway."

I let her go. I knew how it felt to be restless. All half-bloods had attention deficit problems because of our inborn battlefield reflexes. They couldn't stand just waiting around. Also, I had a feeling Thalia was still upset over our conversation last night about Luke.

Bianca and I stood together awkwardly. I mean… I was never very comfortable talking one-on-one with girls anyway, and I'd never been alone with Bianca before. I wasn't sure what to say, especially now that she was a Hunter and everything.

"Nice rat," she said at last.

I set it on the porch railing. Maybe it would attract more business for the store.

"So… how do you like being a Hunter so far?" I asked.

She smiled. "Cool."

"As Long as, you're happy it'll be great beside my mom is kinda cool sis."

"I'm not sure 'happy' is the right word, with Lady Artemis gone. But being a Hunter is definitely cool. I feel calmer somehow. Everything seems to have slowed down around me. I guess that's the immortality."

I stared at her, trying to see the difference. She did seem more confident than before, more at peace. She didn't hide her face under a green cap anymore. She kept her hair tied back, and she looked me right in the eyes when she spoke. With a shiver, I realized that five hundred or a thousand years from now, Bianca di Angelo would look exactly the same as she did today, Bianca would still look twelve years old.

"Nico didn't understand my decision," Bianca murmured. She looked at me like she wanted assurance it was okay.

"He'll be all right," I said. "He's in my group now, I'll take over the older sibling role after all since I found out I was a god I've been making sure to be mature but still make everyone laugh and joke around ."

Bianca nodded. "I hope we find her. Annabeth, I mean. She's lucky to have a friend like Will."

A couple hundred yards away, Grover, Pheobe, Jack, and Zoe came out of the coffee shop loaded down with pastry bags and drinks. I kind of didn't want them to come back yet. It was weird, but I realized I liked talking to Bianca. She wasn't so bad. A lot easier to hang out with than Zoe Nightshade, anyway.

She nodded. "That's why I wanted to join the Hunters so bad. I mean, I know it's selfish, but I wanted my own life and friends. I love Nico—don't get me wrong—I just needed to find out what it would be like not to be a big sister twenty-four hours a day."

Zoe and Grover arrived with the drinks and pastries. Hot chocolate for Bianca and me. Coffee for them. I got a blueberry muffin, and it was so good I could almost ignore the look Bianca was giving me.

"We should do the tracking spell," Zoe said. "Grover, do you have any acorns left?"

"Umm," Grover mumbled. He was chewing on a bran muffin, wrapper and all. "I think so. I just need to—"

He froze.

I was about to ask what was wrong, when a warm breeze rustled past, like a gust of springtime had gotten lost in the middle of winter. Fresh air seasoned with wildflowers and sunshine. And something else—almost like a voice, trying to say something. A warning.

Zoe gasped. "Grover, thy cup."

Grover dropped his coffee cup, which was decorated with pictures of birds. Suddenly the birds peeled off the cup and flew away—a flock of tiny doves. My rubber rat squeaked. It scampered off the railing and into the trees—real fur, real whiskers.

Grover collapsed next to his coffee, which steamed against the snow. We gathered around him and tried to wake him up. He groaned, his eyes fluttering.

"Hey!" Thalia said, running up from the street. "I just… What's wrong with Grover?"

"I don't know," I said. "He collapsed."

"Uuuuuhhhh," Grover groaned.

"Well, get him up!" Thalia said. She had her spear in her hand. She looked behind her as if she were being followed. "We have to get out of here."

We made it to the edge of the town before the first two skeleton warriors appeared. They stepped from the trees on either side of the road. Instead of gray camouflage, they were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms, but they had the same transparent gray skin and yellow eyes.

They drew their handguns. I'll admit I used to think it would be kind of cool to learn how to shoot a gun, but I changed my mind as soon as the skeleton warriors pointed theirs at me.

Thalia tapped her bracelet. Aegis spiraled to life on her arm, but the warriors didn't flinch. Their glowing yellow eyes bored right into me.

I drew my sword of Night, though I wasn't sure what good it would do against guns.

Jack suddenly had a war hammer, at that moment I knew he was a demigod.

Zoe and Bianca drew their bows, but Bianca was having trouble because Grover kept swooning and leaning against her.

"Back up," Thalia said.

We started to—but then I heard a rustling of branches. Two more skeletons appeared on the road behind us. We were surrounded.

I wondered where the other skeletons were. I'd seen a dozen at the Smithsonian. Then one of the warriors raised a cell phone to his mouth and spoke into it.

Except he wasn't speaking. He made a clattering, clicking sound, like dry teeth on bone. Suddenly I understood what was going on. The skeletons had split up to look for us. These skeletons were now calling their brethren. Soon we'd have a full party on our hands.

"It's near," Grover moaned.

"It's here," I said.

"No," he insisted. "The gift. The gift from the Wild."

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I was worried about his condition. He was in no shape to walk, much less fight.

"We'll have to go one-on-one," Thalia said. "Four of them. Six of us."

"Agreed," said Zoe.

"The Wild!" Grover moaned.

A warm wind blew through the canyon, rustling the trees, but I kept my eyes on the skeletons.

And I charged.


	8. Chapter 7

ch. 7

**Thalia's POV**

Percy charged the skeletons without hesitation.

I charged the second skeleton. Zoe, Phoebe, and Bianca started firing arrows at the third and fourth. Will and Jack went to protect Grover, Grover stood there and held his hands out to the trees, looking like he wanted to hug them, which he might want to anyway.

There was a crashing sound in the forest to our left, like a bulldozer. Maybe the skeletons' reinforcements were arriving. I ducked a police baton. The skeleton Percy had cut in half was already fully re-formed, coming after him.

There was no way to stop them. Zoe and Bianca fired at their heads point-blank, but the arrows just whistled straight through their empty skulls. One lunged at Bianca, and I thought she was a goner, but she whipped out her hunting knife and stabbed the warrior in the chest. The whole skeleton erupted into flames, leaving a little pile of ashes and a police badge.

Percy smiled,"Good job sis you're now using dad's powers."

Bianca tried to keep doing it, but the remaining three skeletons were wary of her now. They pressed us back, keeping us at baton's length.

"Plan?" I said as we retreated.

Nobody answered. The trees behind the skeletons were shivering. Branches were cracking.

"A gift," Grover muttered.

And then, with a mighty roar, the largest pig I'd ever seen came crashing into the road. It was a wild boar, thirty feet high, with a snotty pink snout and tusks the size of canoes. Its back bristled with brown hair, and its eyes were wild and angry.

"REEEEEEEEET!" it squealed, and raked the three skeletons aside with its tusks. The force was so great, they went flying over the trees and into the side of the mountain, where they smashed to pieces, thigh bones and arm bones twirling everywhere.

Then the pig turned on us.

Thalia raised her spear, but Grover yelled, "Don't kill it.'"

The boar grunted and pawed the ground, ready to charge.

"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."

"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"

The boar said "REEEEEEET!" and swung its tusk. Zoe and Bianca dived out of the way. I had to push Grover so he wouldn't get launched into the mountain on the Boar Tusk Express.

"Yeah, I feel blessed!" Jack said. "Scatter!"

We ran in different directions, and for a moment the boar was confused.

"It wants to kill us!" I said.

"Of course," Grover said. "It's wild!"

"So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked

I couldn't help but agree.

It seemed a fair question to me, but the pig was offended and charged her. She was faster than I'd realized. She rolled out of the way of its hooves and came up behind the beast. It lashed out with its tusks and pulverized the WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT sign.

I racked my brain, trying to remember the myth of the boar. I was pretty sure Hercules had fought this thing once, but I couldn't remember how he'd beaten it. I had a vague memory of the boar plowing down several Greek cities before Hercules managed to subdue it. I hoped Cloudcroft was insured against giant wild boar attacks.

"Keep moving!" Zoe yelled. She and Bianca ran in opposite directions. Phoebe, Will, and Jack ran behind it. Grover danced around the boar, playing his pipes while the boar snorted and tried to gouge him. But Percy and I won the prize for bad luck. When the boar turned on us, I made the mistake of raising Aegis in defense. The sight of the Medusa head made the boar squeal in outrage. Maybe it looked too much like one of his relatives. The boar charged us.

We only managed to keep ahead of it because we ran uphill, and we could dodge in and out of trees while the boar had to plow through them.

On the other side of the hill, I found an old stretch of train tracks, half buried in the snow.

"This way.'" Percy grabbed my arm and we ran along the rails while the boar roared behind us, slipping and sliding as it tried to navigate the steep hillside. Its hooves just were not made for this, thank the gods.

Ahead of us, I saw a covered tunnel. Past that, an old trestle bridge spanning a gorge. I had a crazy idea.

"Follow me!"

I slowed down—Thankfully, Percy didn't have time to ask why—but He pulled me along and I reluctantly followed. Behind us, a ten-ton pig tank was knocking down pine trees and crushing boulders under its hooves as it chased us.

Percy and I ran into the tunnel and came out on the other side.

"No!" I screamed.

I'd turned as white as ice. We were at the edge of the bridge. Below, the mountain dropped away into a snow-filled gorge about seventy feet below.

The boar was right behind us.

"Come on!" Percy said. "It'll hold our weight, probably."

"I can't!" I yelled.

The boar smashed into the covered tunnel, tearing through at full speed.

"Now!" Percy yelled at me.

I looked down and swallowed. I swear I was turning green.

The boar was charging through the tunnel, straight toward us. Percy tackled me and sent us both sideways off the edge of the bridge, into the side of the mountain. We slid on Aegis like a snow-board, over rocks and mud and snow, racing downhill. The boar was less fortunate; it couldn't turn that fast, so all ten tons of the monster charged out onto the tiny trestle, which buckled under its weight. The boar free-fell into the gorge with a mighty squeal and landed in a snowdrift with a huge POOOOOF!

Percy and I skidded to a stop. We were both breathing hard. Percy was cut up and bleeding ichor. I had pine needles in my hair, which is kinda ironic. Next to us, the wild boar was squealing and struggling. All I could see was the bristly tip of its back. It was wedged completely in the snow like Styrofoam packing. It didn't seem to be hurt, but it wasn't going anywhere, either.

Percy looked at me. "You're afraid of heights."

Now that we were safely down the mountain, my eyes had their usual angry look. "Don't be stupid."

"That explains why you freaked out on Apollo's bus. Why you didn't want to talk about it, I am now your Patron , you can trust me with anything and don't lie to me."

I took a deep breath. Then brushed the pine needles out of my hair. "Yes, I'm afraid of hieghts."

He looked at me,"I can't take that fear away and maybe put it into that Orion kid and make heights worse for him."

She smiled,"Hurry up."

He tapped my forehead and said,"Done."

Above us, Grover's voice called, "Helloooooo?"

"Down here!" I shouted.

A few minutes later, Zoe, Phoebe, Will, Jack, Bianca, and Grover joined us. We stood watching the wild boar struggle in the snow.

"A blessing of the Wild," Grover said, though he now looked agitated.

"I agree," Zoe said. "We must use it."

"Hold up," I said irritably. I still looked like I'd just lost a fight with a Christmas tree. "Explain to me why you're so sure this pig is a blessing."

Grover looked over, distracted. "It's our ride west. Do you have any idea how fast this boar can travel?"

"Fun," Jack said. "Like… pig cowboys."

Grover nodded. "We need to get aboard. I wish… I wish I had more time to look around. But it's gone now."

"What's gone?"

Grover didn't seem to hear me. He walked over to the boar and jumped onto its back. Already the boar was starting to make some headway through the drift. Once it broke free, there'd be no stopping it. Grover took out his pipes. He started playing a snappy tune and tossed an apple in front of the boar. The apple floated and spun right above the boar's nose, and the boar went nuts, straining to get it.

"Automatic steering," I murmured. "Great."

I trudged over and jumped on behind Grover, which still left plenty of room for the rest of the group.

Zoe and Bianca walked toward the boar.

"Wait a second," I said. "Do you two know what Grover is talking about—this wild blessing?"

"Of course," Zoe said. "Did you not feel it in the wind? It was so strong… I never thought I would sense that presence again."

"What presence?"

She stared at me like I was an idiot. "The Lord of the Wild, of course. Just for a moment, in the arrival of the boar, I felt the presence of Pan."

**Jack's POV****(A/N: He is going to have a big position in the story, and I think if you found out his parentage you'll know what it is.)**

We rode the boar until sunset, which was about as much as my back end could take. Imagine riding a giant steel brush over a bed of gravel all day. That's about how comfortable boar-riding was.

I have no idea how many miles we covered, but the mountains faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until we were galloping (do boars gallop?) across the desert.

As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."

Nobody needed convincing. We slipped off the boar's back while he was busy ripping up cacti. Then we waddled away as best we could with our saddle sores, except Percy who being a god used his shadow powers to make some riding armor.

After its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back toward the east.

"It likes the mountains better," I guessed.

"I can't blame it," Thalia said. "Look."

Ahead of us was a two-lane road half covered with sand. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since before Atlas was born, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills… but then I noticed they weren't regular hills. The countryside was way too flat for that. The hills were enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

"Whoa," I said.

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to me, but Grover looked concerned.

"That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there."

"Which one is me?" Percy asked.

"The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.

"Oh, shut up sis."

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge…"

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. With the sunlight almost gone now, the hills of metal looked like something on an alien planet.

We decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of us wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.

Zoe and Bianca produced seven sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks. I don't know how they did it, because the packs were tiny, but must've been enchanted to hold so much stuff. I'd noticed their bows and quivers were also magic. I never really thought about it, but when the Hunters needed them, they just appeared slung over their backs. And when they didn't, they were gone.

The night got chilly fast, so Grover, Percy, and I collected old boards from the ruined house, and Will zapped them with a beam of sunlight to start a campfire. Pretty soon we were about as comfy as you can get in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe said.

She was right. There were millions of them, with no city lights to turn the sky orange.

"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

"You talk like you're not human," I said.

Percy replied,"She's not, She's a demi-titan."

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoe nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee, and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee…"

I was pretty sure coffee had nothing to do with what had happened in Cloudcroft, but I didn't have the heart to tell Grover. I thought about the rubber rat and the tiny birds that had suddenly come alive when the wind blew. "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean, I know you want it to be."

"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."

I didn't answer. I didn't want to squash Grover's hopes.

"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Percy, "Is why don't you just flash us to our destination?"

Percy shook his head. "I can't flash to a place I've never seen."

Bianca looked uncomfortable with everybody paying attention to her.

"Never mind," Zoe told her. "We will find the answer. In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

Thalia looked like she was about to protest that she and Grover had had bad experiences in that town, but Bianca beat us to it.

"No!" she said. "Not there!"

She looked really freaked out, like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster.

Zoe frowned. "Why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath. "I… I think we stayed there for a while. Nico, Percy, and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember…"

Suddenly Thalia looked like she had a really bad thought.

Thalia met Graver's eyes, and I got the feeling they were thinking the same thing.

"Bianca," she said. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

Her eyes widened. "How could you know that?"

"Oh, great," she said.

"Wait," I said. "What is the Lotus Casino?"

"A couple of years ago," Thalia said, "Grover, Annabeth, and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days had passed. It makes time speed up."

"No," Bianca said. "No, that's not possible."

"You said somebody came and got you out," I remembered.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I… I don't remember. Please, I really don't want to talk about this."

Zoe sat forward, her eyebrows knit with concern. "You said that Washington, D.C., had changed when you went back last summer. You didn't remember the subway being there."

"Yes, but—"

"Bianca," Zoe said, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told us the correct name of the president.

"And who was the president before that?" Zoe asked.

Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin'?"

"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R."

"Like FDR Drive?" Grover asked.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."

"That's impossible," Bianca said. "I… I'm not that old."

She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled.

Thalia's eyes turned sad. I guess she knew what it was like to get pulled out of time for a while. "It's okay, Bianca, The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."

"But how?" I said. "You were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?"

"I told you." Bianca looked about ready to cry. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And—"

"But who? Why did he do it?"

Before she could answer, we were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. We grabbed our sleeping bags and got out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of us.

The back door of the limo opened right next to me. Before I could step away, the point of a sword touched my throat.

I heard the sound of Zoe, Phoebe, Will, and Bianca drawing their bows. As the owner of the sword got out of the car, I moved back very slowly. I had to, because he was pushing the point under my chin.

He smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"

Percy asked,"What do you mean Uncle?"

He said Uncle with so much disgust you'd think Ares would be bunch of dead mice stinking up the area.

He was a big man with a crew cut, a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes, but I knew what was behind those glasses—hollow sockets filled with flames.

"Ares," I growled.

The war god glanced at my friends. "At ease, people."

He snapped his fingers, and their weapons fell to the ground except Percy's.

"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little farther under my chin. "Of course I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia asked.

Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."

He lowered his sword and pushed me away.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."

She looked like she was about to say something but Percy beat her to it,"Ares φύγει τώρα και ορκίζομαι αν προσπαθήσετε κάτι , όταν αυτό το ξίφος πηγαίνει θα είναι everythng αλλά άνετα."(Ares leave now and I swear if you try anything where this sword goes will be everythng but comfortable)

I effortlessly translated that and I cringed.

"What's your business, Ares?" Thalia said. "Who's in the car?"

Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy and Jack a few minutes."

"We will not leave milady's son alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. The boards flew off the door and the CLOSED sign flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"

"Go on," I told my friends. "I'll handle this."

I tried to sound more confident than I felt. I don't think Ares was fooled.

"You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control and I admit Mama's boy here can easily kick my ass, we're in his domain."

My friends reluctantly headed over to the taco restaurant. Ares regarded me with loathing and Percy with fear, then opened the limousine door like a chauffeur.

"Get inside, punk," he said. "And mind your manners. She's not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."

When I saw her, my jaw dropped.

I forgot my name. I forgot where I was. I forgot how to speak in complete sentences.

She was wearing a red satin dress and her hair was curled in a cascade of ringlets. Her face was the most beautiful I'd ever seen: perfect makeup, dazzling eyes, a smile that would've lit up the dark side of the moon.

Thinking back on it, I can't tell you who she looked like.

Or even what color her hair or her eyes were. Pick the most beautiful actress you can think of. The goddess was ten times more beautiful than that. Pick your favorite hair color, eye color, whatever. The goddess had that.

When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like my mom. Then like this television actress I used to have a crush on in fifth grade. Then… well, you get the idea.

"Ah, there you are, Percy and Jack," the goddess said. "I am Aphrodite."

I slipped into the seat across from her and said something like, "Um uh gah."

Percy didn't seem affected by her beauty,"What do you want Aphrodite?"

She smiled. "Aren't you sweet. Hold this, please."

She handed me a polished mirror the size of a dinner plate and had me hold it up for her. She leaned forward and dabbed at her lipstick, though I couldn't see anything wrong with it.

"Do you know why you're here?" she asked.

I wanted to respond. Why couldn't I form a complete sentence? She was only a lady. A seriously beautiful lady. With eyes like pools of spring water… Whoa.

I pinched my own arm, hard.

"I… I don't know," I managed.

"Oh, dear," Aphrodite said. "Still in denial?"

Outside the car, I could hear Ares chuckling. I had a feeling he could hear every word we said. The idea of him being out there made me angry, and that helped clear my mind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

"Well then, why are you on this quest?"

"Artemis has been captured!"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Oh, Artemis. Please. Talk about a hopeless case. I mean, if they were going to kidnap a goddess, she should be breathtakingly beautiful, don't you think? I pity the poor dears who have to imprison Artemis. Bo-ring!"

Percy growled,"you'd do well to not insult my mother in front of me love goddess."

she looked at him,"Ahh the son of Artemis, the one that is falling in loove with Thalia Grace with each passing day but thanks to his mother he is oblivious to it. "

He growled, but I got us back on topic.

"But she was chasing a monster," I protested. "A really, really bad monster. We have to find it!"

Aphrodite made me hold the mirror a little higher. She seemed to have found a microscopic problem at the corner of her eye and dabbed at her mascara. "Always some monster. But my dear Jack, that is why the others are on this quest. I'm more interested in you."

My heart pounded. I didn't want to answer, but her eyes drew an answer right out of my mouth. "A friend of mine is in trouble."

Aphrodite beamed. "Exactly!"

"I have to help her," I said. "I've been having these dreams."

"Ah, you even dream about her! That's so cute!"

"No! I mean… that's not what I meant."

She made a tsk-tsk sound. "Jack, I'm on your side. I'm the reason you're here, after all."

I stared at her. "What?"

She looked at me and said,"You think it's a coincidence, Perseus found you."

"You did that?"

"Of course! Because really, how boring these Hunters . are! A quest for some monster, blah blah blah. Saving Artemis. Let her stay lost, I say. But a quest for true love—"

Percy growled,"Come on Jack let's go we have a quest to finish."

Aphrodite pouts but let's us leave.

My audience with the goddess of love was over.

"You're lucky, punk." Ares pushed me away from the limo. "Be grateful."

"For what?"

"That we're being so nice. If it was up to me—"

"So why haven't you killed me?" I shot back. It was a stupid thing to say to the god of war, but being around him always made me feel angry and reckless.

Ares nodded, like I'd finally said something intelligent.

"I'd love to kill you, seriously," he said. "But see, I got a situation. Word on Olympus is that you might start the biggest war in history. I can't risk messing that up. Besides, Aphrodite thinks you're some kinda soap-opera star or something. I kill you, that makes me look bad with her. But don't worry. I haven't forgotten my promise. Some day soon, kid—real soon—you're going to raise your sword to fight, and you're going to remember the wrath of Ares."

I balled my fists. "Why wait? I beat you once. How's that ankle healing up?"

He grinned crookedly. "Not bad, punk. But you got nothing on the master of taunts. I'll start the fight when I'm good and ready. Until then… Get lost."

He snapped his fingers and the world did a three-sixty, spinning in a cloud of red dust. I fell to the ground.

When I stood up again, the limousine was gone. The road, the taco restaurant, the whole town of Gila Claw was gone. My friends and I were standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.

"What did she want with you?" Bianca asked, once I'd told them about Aphrodite.

"Oh, uh, not sure," I lied. "She said to be careful in her husband's junkyard. She said not to pick anything up."

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "The goddess of love would not make a special trip to tell thee that. Be careful, Jack. Aphrodite has led many heroes astray."

"For once I agree with Zoe," Thalia said. "You can't trust Aphrodite."

Percy was grumbling,"Stupid love goddess no one insults my mother, I'll kill her next chance I get."

Everyone looked at him funny except Bianca, Phoebe, and Zoe who were fuming

Grover was looking at me funny. Being empathic and all, he could usually read my emotions, and I got the feeling he knew exactly what Aphrodite had talked to me about.

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject, "how do we get out of here?"

"That way," Zoe said. "That is west."


	9. Chapter 8

ch. 8

**Percy's POV**

I walk through the junkyard, still grumbling about what the love goddess said.

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Jack said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

I broke in,"Let me IM Uncle Hephaestus and we might be able to get some free stuff."

"Cool," Thalia said.

One Iris message later we could pick up stuff and if it worked we could keep it and the security system was off.

We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

I'd like to say we didn't grab very much, but there was too much cool junk not to check out take of it. I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up I made it black and reshaped it to look like a black cresent moon before turning it into a necklace and putting it one. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, each of us had two things, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. We kept walking until we reached the outside where I decided to create some cars the first two were Mercedes SLKs one silver one black, and the third was a storm grey Mustang.

"Guys," Grover broke in. "Look!"

We'd reached the crest of a junk mountain. Piles of metal objects glinted in the moonlight: broken heads of bronze horses, metal legs from human statues, smashed chariots, tons of shields and swords and other weapons, along with more modern stuff, like cars that gleamed gold and silver, refrigerators, washing machines, and computer monitors.

"Whoa," Bianca said. "That stuff… some of it looks like real gold."

"It is," Thalia said grimly. "Like Jack said, don't touch anything. This is the junkyard of the gods."

"Junk?" Grover picked up a beautiful crown made of gold, silver, and jewels. It was broken on one side, as if it had been split by an axe. "You call this junk?"

He bit off a point and began to chew. "It's delicious!"

Thalia swatted the crown out of his hands. "I'm serious!"

"Look!" Bianca said. She raced down the hill, tripping over bronze coils and golden plates. She picked up a bow that glowed silver in moonlight. "A Hunter's bow!"

She yelped in surprise as the bow began to shrink, and became a hair clip shaped like a crescent moon. "It's just like Percy's sword!"

Zoe's face was grim. "Leave it, Bianca."

"But—"

"It is here for a reason. Anything thrown away in this junkyard must stay in this yard. It is defective. Or cursed."

Bianca reluctantly set the hair clip down.

I broke in,"Let me IM Uncle Hephaestus and we might be able to get some free stuff."

"Cool," Thalia said.

One Iris message later we could pick up stuff and if it worked we could keep it and the securuty system was off.

We started picking our way through the hills and valleys of junk. The stuff seemed to go on forever, and if it hadn't been for Ursa Major, we would've gotten lost. All the hills pretty much looked the same.

I'd like to say we didn''t grab very much, but there was too much cool junk not to check out take of it. I found an electric guitar shaped like Apollo's lyre that was so sweet I had to pick it up I made it black and reshaped it to look like a black cresent moon beforre turning it into anceklace and putting it one. Grover found a broken tree made out of metal. It had been chopped to pieces, but some of the branches still had golden birds in them, and they whirred around when Grover picked them up, trying to flap their wings.

Finally, we saw the edge of the junkyard about half a mile ahead of us, each of us had two things, the lights of a highway stretching through the desert. We kept walking until we reached the outside where I decided to create some cars the first two were mercedes SLKs one silver one black, and the third was a storm grey Mustang.

We navigated us through the desert, under clear blue skies, the sand so bright it hurt to look at. The hunters were in the silver Mercedes, Will, Jack, and Grover got the grey Mustang, Me and Thalia got the black Merceds. I was driving in front with Thalia.

I looked at Thalia as we camped after it got dark I said,"Thalia?"

She replied,"Yeah Perce"

I said,"When Jack and I talked to Aphrodite she told me that I was falling in love and who it was with, you know how I called you Aunt Thalia?"

She nodded,"well I don't really think of you as my Aunt it was just me being respectful but to be honest Aphrodite's right, I am in love with you."

She looked at me and said,"To be honest I love you too"

With that said we fell asleep cuddling an hour later.**(A/N: Hehe, I couldn't help it.)**

The next day we drove until we were at the edge of a river canyon. That was just as well, because the road dead-ended.

Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew. "Great. What now?"

I scanned the horizon. There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below us.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

I tried to see what he was talking about, and finally noticed a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face. "That's a goat path," I said.

"So?" he asked.

"The rest of us aren't goats."

"We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

I thought about that. I'd done cliffs before, but I didn't like them. Then I looked over at Thalia and saw how pale she'd gotten. Her problem with heights… she'd never be able to do it. Even though I took the fears away she needs to get used to not having them before going up high.

"No," I said. "I, uh, think a should plane will do."

Grover said, "But—"

"Come on," I said. "A plane ride won't hurt us."

I glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick Thank you.

We followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led up-hill. I summoned a plane and two skeletal pilots

Thalia pulled me aside as we were getting to our seats. "Thanks for back there."

"Don't mention it, you are my girlfriend now."

"Can you really…" She nodded to the west. "You know."

"I think so. Usually I'm good with my hunches, I know where we're going."

We went to our seats and Will walked up,"Perce can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"If I join the assassins and Annabeth doesn't can I find someone in the assassins?"

I nodded, "Will if the daughter of Athena leaves you there will be other women, you might love her but remember children of Athena have the worst fatal flaw, pride, not even with Thalia raising her will that change."

He nodded,"Thanks, and speaking of Thalia, I see you and him are in love, also Nico has a crush on a daughter of Thanatos, just to let you know."

He ran off,"Nico better be ready because I will get the daughter of Thanatos to join the assassins, Thalia she'll be under your command so can you put in a good word for Nico."**(A/N:Yay, brotherly scheming )**

**A day later(A/N: I know I'm cutting the book short but he's a god so he can travel quickly although he prefers to travel like a demigod for a while because he's sympathetic )**

**Will's POV**

After reaching San Fransico and talking to Annabeth's dad we summoned another car and Zoe drove in her crazy way.

Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway.

The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" I asked.

"Eucalyptus." Zoe pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?"

"And monsters," she said. "They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons."

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?"

"Believe me," Zoe said, "if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus too."

I didn't question her, but I did keep my eyes peeled more closely as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving toward it.

"So that's the Mountain of Despair?" I asked.

"Yes," Zoe said tightly.

"Why do they call it that?"

She was silent for almost a mile before answering. "After the war between the Titans and the gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides."

"The General," I said. Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. "What's going on up there? A storm?"

Zoe didn't answer. I got the feeing she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We have to concentrate," Thalia said. "The Mist is really strong here."

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" I asked.

"Both."

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight toward them. We were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog.

I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that made me jump out of my seat.

"Look!" But we turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.

"What?" Thalia asked.

"A big white ship," I said. "Docked near the beach. It looked like a cruise ship."

Her eyes widened. "Luke's ship?"

I wanted to say I wasn't sure. It might be a coincidence. But I knew better. The Princess Andromeda, Luke's demon cruise ship, was docked at that beach. That's why he'd sent his ship all the way down to the Panama Canal. It was the only way to sail it from the East Coast to California.

"We will have company, then," Zoe said grimly. "Kronos's army."

I then thought about something, Jack said,"Wait a second, Percy said you were a demititan, and you seem to hate coming here, the titan Atlas is up thee so I'd say you are a daughter of Atlas that joined the gods."

She nodded, we silently rode into the garden before moving through on foot the eigth of us looked around warily as we walked.

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there. Thalia, Percy, and I looked at each other.

"Concentrate on Zoe," Thalia advised. "We are following her. Go straight into the fog and keep that in mind."

She stepped into the fog, into the Mist, and we all followed.

When the fog cleared, I was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a bloodred slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us.

If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.

"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus."

I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree.

Now, I don't know what you think of when I say dragon. Whatever it is, it's not scary enough. The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for my weapon, but Zoe stopped my hand.

Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I'd never realized how beautiful Zoe was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe—gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"Sisters," Zoe said.

"We do not see any sister," one of the girls said coldly. "We see three half-bloods, three Hunters, and a god-"

He looked at them,"I am Perseus god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, son of Artemis and Hades, soon to be Olympian, and leader of the newly formed Assassin of Perseus we will pass through and you will step aside."

They moved aside adn we all walked up the mountain.

At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"What's Mount Othrys?" I asked, feeling like a fool as usual.

"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoe said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was blasted to pieces

"But… how is it here?"

Thalia looked around cautiously as we picked our way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

"Why?"

"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, my Aunt, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. It hadn't been a cavern roof that Artemis was forced to hold. It was the roof of the world.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. I had never seen a goddess in pain before, but the weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Percy growled,"I'm not leaving you mom, Atlas show yourself and surrender and you may still have use of your legs during this millennia "

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice spoke behind us: "Ah, how touching."

We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

I met her eyes, trying to ask her a thousand questions. There was just one message she was sending me, though: RUN.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

Percy said,"Do as my girlfriend tells you or you won't live to see the next hour."

Atlas laughs,"Well then Perseus how about this we battle you can have anyone of thses demigods to help you and if they are willling they can take they sky and Artemis may help you."

I jump over to Artemis,"My Lady let me, your son needs you, hurry "

I quickly get under the sky and push her away.


	10. Chapter 9

ch.9

**Percy's POV**

My vision turned fuzzy. Everything was tinged with red as I looked at Atlas. The three battlers each fighting wildly, There was Atlas in full battle armor, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And mom, a blur of silver. She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Or perhaps that was just my fevered brain. I used my powers turning the battle in our favor.

Thalia and Luke went spear on sword, lightning still flashing around them. Thalia pressed Luke back with the aura of her shield. Even he was not immune to it. He retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.

"Yield!" Thalia yelled. "You never could beat me, Luke."

He bared his teeth. "Well see, my old friend."

Sweat poured down my face. My hands were slippery. My shoulders would've screamed with agony if they could. I felt like the vertebrae in my spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.

Atlas advanced, pressing mom. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where mom had been a split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leaped over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward Will.

Get ready, she spoke in his mind.

He was losing the ability to think through the pain. His response was something like Agggghh-owwwwwwww.

"You fight well for a girl, Artemis and Perseus oy would do well to join us I may let your mom be free." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."

I smiled,"Atlas you forget it is you that have no chance we are in my domain, we are in night,you won't survive long."

He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Mom dodged. I saw the trick coming. Atlas's javelin swept around and knocked Mom's legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.

"No!" I screamed. and kicked Atlas with my full strength and he slammed into Will, Will as Atlas slammed into him didn't try to hold on. He let himself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all he was worth.

The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.

"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"

Atlas was trapped under his old burden.

Will tried to stand and fell back again, dazed from pain.

Thalia backed Luke to the edge of a cliff, but still they fought on, next to the golden coffin. Thalia had tears in her eyes. Luke had a bloody slash across his chest and his pale face glistened with sweat.

He lunged at Thalia and she slammed him with her shield. Luke's sword spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to his throat.

For a moment, there was silence.

"Well?" Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but I could hear fear in his voice.

Thalia trembled with fury.

Behind her, Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. "Don't kill him!"

"He's a traitor," Thalia said. "A traitor!"

In my daze, I realized that Artemis was no longer with me. She had run off toward the black rocks where Zoe had fallen.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He… he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"

Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear.

"No!" Annabeth shouted. But it was too late. Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell.

"Luke!" Annabeth screamed.

We rushed to the cliff's edge. Below us, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. They were staring at Luke's broken form on the rocks. Despite how much I hated him, I couldn't stand to see it. I wanted to believe he was still alive, but that was impossible. The fall was fifty feet at least, and he wasn't moving.

One of the giants looked up and growled, "Kill them!"

Thalia was stiff with grief, tears streaming down her cheeks. I pulled her back as a wave of javelins sailed over our heads. We ran for the rocks, ignoring the curses and threats of Atlas as we passed.

"Mom!" I yelled.

The goddess looked up, we all readied for a fight.

Just as the army of monsters came over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.

"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.

This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.

"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, We must get Zoe away from here."

She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin. Zoe's eyes were fluttering.

"Hang in there!" I told her. "It'll be all right!"

The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. I realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snake women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulfurous yellow powder.

"That's… my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.

We didn't have time to admire his flying. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. Dr. Chase would be in trouble soon.

Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn by the most beautiful deer I had ever seen. It landed right next to us.

"Get in," Mom said.

Annabeth helped me get Thalia on board.

"Like Santa Claus's sleigh," Bianca murmured, still dazed by the battle having been helping us she was one of the people shooting Atlas

Mom took time to look back at her. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"

Seeing us safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed us like an honor guard. It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.

Behind us, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew… you shot… oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-aged mortal, I suppose."

"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"

"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you… left."

Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. I noticed Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.

"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."

He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

"Dad…" Annabeth faltered.

"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia interrupted. Her voice was urgent. She and Artemis were sitting down the others around them.

Annabeth and I ran over to discuss everything.

After recounting everything Mom smiled at me.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis said. "I will not be able to take you, but I will send help."

The goddess set her hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess's eyes. I wasn't sure what passed between them, but Artemis's gaze softened with sympathy. Then she turned to me.

"You did well," she said. "For a man."

I wanted to protest. But then I realized it was the first time she hadn't called me a boy.

She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. We averted our eyes. There was a flash of silver, and the goddess was gone.

"Well," Dr. Chase sighed. "She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena."

I said,"Well guys let's flash to Olympus."

Everyone except Annabeth grabbed onto my shoulder.

Annabeth turned toward him. "Dad, I… I'm sorry that—"

"Shh." He hugged her. "Do what you must, my dear. I know this isn't easy for you."

His voice was a little shaky, but he gave Annabeth a brave smile.

He said,"be careful, Perseus Promise me she'll get to her mother safely."

"Dad!" Annabeth interrupted.

Dr. Chase blinked. He looked at his daughter and managed a smile. "I'm sorry, my dear, I know you must go."

I nodded,"If she didn't Will here would kill me."

He gave her one last awkward, well-meaning hug. As she turned to come put her hand on my shoulder, Dr. Chase called, "Annabeth. I know… I know San Francisco is a dangerous place for you. But please remember, you always have a home with us. We will keep you safe."

Annabeth didn't answer, but her eyes were red as she turned away. Dr. Chase started to say more, then apparently thought better of it. He raised his hand in a sad farewell and trudged away across the dark field.

She put her hand on my shoulder an in a flash we appear outside the throne room

"There it is." Thalia's voice; she'd woken up. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It's started."

"What's started?" I asked.

Then I looked where she was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The winter solstice," Thalia said. "The Council of the Gods."

In the early morning darkness, torches and fires made the mountainside palaces glow twenty different colors, from blood-red to indigo. Apparently no one ever slept on Olympus. The twisting streets were full of demigods and nature spirits and minor godlings bustling about, riding chariots or sedan chairs carried by Cyclopes. Winter didn't seem to exist here. I caught the scent of the gardens in full bloom, jasmine and roses and even sweeter things I couldn't name. Music drifted up from many windows, the soft sounds of lyres and reed pipes.

Towering at the peak of the mountain was the greatest palace of all, the glowing white hall of the gods.

I opened the door and then, side by side, we walked into the throne room. 

Twelve enormous thrones made a U around a central hearth, just like the placement of the cabins at camp. The ceiling above glittered with constellations—even the newest one, Zoe the Huntress, making her way across the heavens with her bow drawn.

All of the seats were occupied. Each god and goddess was about fifteen feet tall, and I'm telling you, if you've ever had a dozen all-powerful super-huge beings turn their eyes on you at once… Well, suddenly, facing monsters seemed like a picnic.

"Welcome, heroes," Mom said.

"Mooo!"

That's when I noticed Bessie and Grover.

A sphere of water was hovering in the center of the room, next to the hearth fire. Bessie was swimming happily around, swishing his serpent tail and poking his head out the sides and bottom of the sphere. He seemed to be enjoying the novelty of swimming in a magic bubble. Grover was kneeling at Zeus's throne, as if he'd just been giving a report, but when he saw us, he cried, "You made it!"

He started to run toward me, then remembered he was turning his back on Zeus, and looked for permission.

"Go on," Zeus said. But he wasn't really paying attention to Grover. The lord of the sky was staring intently at Thalia.

Grover trotted over. None of the gods spoke. Every clop of Grover's hooves echoed on the marble floor. Bessie splashed in his bubble of water. The hearth fire crackled.

I looked nervously at my father, Hades this is the first time I've seen him, I smile and mentally say, Hi dad, I'll talk to you later but I want to talk with my friends and see what's up. He nodded as if to say It's okay.

Grover gave Annabeth and Thalia big hugs. Then he grasped my arms. "Percy, Bessie and I made it! But you have to convince them! They can't do it!"

"Do what?" I asked.

"Heroes," Mom called.

The goddess slid down from her throne and turned to human size, a young auburn-haired girl, perfectly at ease in the midst of the giant Olympians. She walked toward us, her silver robes shimmering. There was no emotion in her face. She seemed to walk in a column of moonlight.

"The Council has been informed of your deeds," Artemis told us. "They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas's attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act."

There was some mumbling and shuffling among the gods, as if they weren't all happy with this plan, but nobody protested.

"At my Lord Zeus's command," Mom said, "my brother Apollo and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titans' cause. Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons. Lord Poseidon has been given permission to unleash his full fury on the cruise ship Princess Andromeda and send it to the bottom of the sea. And as for you, my heroes…"

She turned to face the other immortals. "These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?"

She looked around at the assembled gods, meeting their faces individually. Zeus in his dark pin-striped suit, his black beard neatly trimmed, and his eyes sparking with energy. Next to him sat a beautiful woman with silver hair braided over one shoulder and a dress that shimmered colors like peacock feathers. The Lady Hera.

On Zeus's right, Poseidon. Next to him, a huge lump of a man with a leg in a steel brace, a misshapen head, and a wild brown beard, fire flickering through his whiskers. The Lord of the Forges,Uncle Hephaestus.

Hermes winked at me. He was wearing a business suit today, checking messages on his caduceus mobile phone. Apollo leaned back in his golden throne with his shades on. He had iPod headphones on, so I wasn't sure he was even listening, but he gave me a thumbs-up. Dionysus looked bored, twirling a grape-vine between his fingers. And Ares, well, he sat on his chrome-and-leather throne, glowering at me while he sharpened a knife.

On the ladies' side of the throne room, a dark-haired goddess in green robes sat next to Hera on a throne woven of apple-tree branches. Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. Next to her sat a beautiful gray-eyed woman in an elegant white dress. She could only be Annabeth's mother, Athena. Then there was Aphrodite, who smiled at me knowingly and made glare at her.

All the Olympians in one place. So much power in this room it was a miracle the whole palace didn't blow apart.

"I gotta say"—Apollo broke the silence—"these kids did okay." He cleared his throat and began to recite: "Heroes win laurels—"

"Um, yes, first class," Hermes interrupted, like he was anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry. "All in favor of not disintegrating them?"

A few tentative hands went up—Demeter, Aphrodite.

"Wait just a minute," Ares growled. He pointed at Thalia and Bianca. "These two are dangerous. It'd be much safer, while we've got them here and don't forget barnacle Beard's son-"

"Ares," Poseidon interrupted, "they are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits."

"Nor my daughter," Zeus grumbled. "She has done well."

Thalia blushed. She studied the floor. I knew how she felt.

Artemis growled,"Nor my son's siblings."

The goddess Athena cleared her throat and sat forward. "I am proud of my daughter as well. But there is a security risk here with the other three."

"Mother!" Annabeth said. "How can you—"

Athena cut her off with a calm but firm look. "It is unfortunate that my father, Zeus, and my uncle, Poseidon, chose to break their oath not to have more children. Only Hades kept his word, technically, a fact that I find ironic. As we know from the Great Prophecy, children of the three elder gods… such as Thalia, Bianca, Nico, and Orion… are dangerous. As thickheaded as he is, Ares has a point."

"Right!" Ares said. "Hey, wait a minute. Who you callin'—"

He started to get up, but a grape vine grew around his waist like a seat belt and pulled him back down.

"Oh, please, Ares," Dionysus sighed. "Save the fighting for later."

Ares cursed and ripped away the vine. "You're one to talk, you old drunk. You seriously want to protect these brats?"

I interrupted,"One Ares you are thick-headed, two Dionysus he has a point,you are a drunk bastard, three the only one here that is a danger to Olympus is Poseidon's son, he's just like his namesake an arrogant, cocky, little shit that needs to be brought down a few more pegs, so he is the only problem."

Poseidon yelled,""That's it, Perseus I am going to killl you for insulting my son."

I yelled back,"Shut up! Your son is exactly like the first Orion, who need I remind you tried to rape my mother so you better shut up, your son is a cocky bitch!"

Everyone stared at me my anger making shadows cloak the throne room, my aura absorbing the auras of the other gods in the room, the demigods start to fall down looking pale except Thalia, Will, and Bianca.

Suddenly my hand starts to glow gold and I throw golden energy at Poseidon blowing him out of the throne room with so much force he would have flown all the way to China if Zeus hadn't brought him back .

Mom said. "Anyway, I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, I will have none of it."

"Calm down, sis," Apollo said. "Jeez, you need to lighten up."

"Don't call me sis! I will reward them."

"Well," Zeus grumbled. "Perhaps. But the monster at least must be destroyed. We have agreement on that?"

A lot of nodding heads.

It took me a second to realize what they were saying. Then my heart turned to lead. "Bessie? You want to destroy Bessie?"

"Mooooooo!" Bessie protested.

Poseidon frowned. "You have named the Ophiotaurus Bessie?"

"Poseidon," I said, "he's just a sea creature. A really nice sea creature. You can't destroy him."

Poseidon shifted uncomfortably. "Perseus, the monster's power is considerable. If the Titans were to steal it, or—"

"You can't," I insisted. I looked at Zeus. I probably should have been afraid of him, but I stared him right in the eye. "Controlling the prophecies never works. Isn't that true? Besides, Bess—the Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing something like that is wrong. It's just as wrong as… as Kronos eating his children, just because of something they might do. It's wrong!"

Zeus seemed to consider this. His eyes drifted to his daughter Thalia. "And what of the risk? Kronos knows full well, if one of you were to sacrifice the beast's entrails, you would have the power to destroy us. Do you think we can let that possibility remain? You, my daughter, will turn sixteen on the morrow, just as the prophecy says."

"You have to trust them," Annabeth spoke up. "Sir, you have to trust them."

Zeus scowled. "Trust a hero?"

"Annabeth is right," Mom said."Onto the rewards."

I interrupt,"Mom if I may I wish to talk to Grandfather about my reward."

Zeus beckoned me forward. He leaned down and listened as I spoke in his ear,"Is it okay if I bring Theseus back to life to be one of my assassins."

Zeus said,"Okay Hades bring Theseus back to like for Perseus."

Dad nodded and said to wait til after the meeting

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Artemis said.

"This boy is still dangerous," Dionysus warned. "The beast is a temptation to great power. Even if we spare the boy—"

"No." I looked around at all the gods. "Please. Keep the Ophiotaurus safe. My dad can hide him in the underworld somewhere, or keep him in an aquarium here in Olympus. But you have to protect him."

"And why should we trust the daughter of Hades?" rumbled Hephaestus.

"She's only twelve," I said. "If this prophecy is about her, that's three more years."

"three years for Kronos to deceive her," Athena said. "Much can change in two years, my young hero."

"Mother!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"It is only the truth, child. It is bad strategy to keep the animal alive. Or the boy."

Poseidon stood. "I will not have a sea creature destroyed, if I can help it. And I can help it."

He held out his hand, and a trident appeared in it: a twenty foot long bronze shaft with three spear tips that shimmered with blue, watery light. "I will vouch for the boy and the safety of the Ophiotaurus."

"You won't take it under the sea!" Zeus stood suddenly. "I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession."

"Brother, please," Poseidon sighed.

Zeus's lightning bolt appeared in his hand, a shaft of electricity that filled the whole room with the smell of ozone.

"Fine," Poseidon said. "I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. My boy, Orion will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor."

Zeus thought about this. "All in favor?"

To my surprise, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained. So did Ares and Athena. But everybody else…

"We have a majority," Zeus decreed. "And so, since we will not be destroying these heroes… I imagine we should honor them. Let the triumph celebration begin!"

Dad brought Theseus to the throne room he looked like Poseidon but with he looked to be calculating everything in the room.

He looked at me and Hades,"Why have you brought me here?"

I said,"I have a proposition, you died peacefully but you are getting a second chance at life and the proposition is you may join me or you can go to the demigod camp you have the chance to teach demigods for as long as you want to or follow me as I move to assassinate Kronos and the monsters hunting demigods."


	11. Chapter 10

ch.10

**Percy's POV**

There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice, go for the Olympian.

The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes, and I realized the music was whatever you wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same sound track. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up. I was listening to Another me by The Cab**( watch?v=n2nj1ZPWe1k, here it is.)**

Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful woman walked with him arm in arm—his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time. Nectar and ambrosia overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink you wanted. Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso latte, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"

Gods kept coming over to congratulate me. Thankfully, they had reduced themselves to human size, so they didn't accidentally trample partygoers under their feet. Hermes started chatting with me, and he was so cheerful I hated to tell him what had happened to his least-favorite son, Luke, but before I could even get up the courage, Hermes got a call on his caduceus and walked away.

Apollo told me I could drive his sun chariot any time, and if I ever wanted archery lessons—

"Thanks," I told him. "But seriously, I'm good enough at archery."

"Ah, nonsense," he said. "Target practice from the chariot as we fly over the U.S.? Best fun there is!"

I made some excuses and wove through the crowds that were dancing in the palace courtyards. I was looking for Thalia. Last I saw her, she'd been dancing with some minor godling.

"You'll make me proud in this war, right?"

I turned to see my dad, Hades.

"Dad… hi."

"Hello, Percy. You've done well."

His praise made me uneasy.

"I won't let you down," I promised.

He nodded.

"I hear you have a girlfriend."

I blushed golden**(A/N:I notice I never specified if he had golden blood like other immortals)**,"Dad!"

He laughed good-naturedly.

He said,"Well here comes said girlfriend now."

I turned to find Thalia walking up.

So I took her hand, and I don't know what everybody else heard, but to me it changed to Her Love is My Religion by The Cab.**(A/N:Again, watch?v=Aoo2QL8VcQs.)**

After a few seconds of dancing we decided to leave

Compared to Mount Olympus, Manhattan was quiet. Friday before Christmas, but it was early in the morning, and hardly anyone was on Fifth Avenue. Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, Bianca, Zoe, Phoebe, Theseus, Jack, Will, and me at the Empire State Building and ferried us back to camp through a light snowstorm. The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted.

As we trudged back up Half-Blood Hill to the pine tree where the Golden Fleece glittered.

Chiron greeted us at the Big House with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches. Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

I walked into the middle of the cabin area and summoned the weapon tent.

Then I called a meeting in the dining pavilion.

When everyone was in I said,"Okay all those 10 or under please leave."

5 people left.

I continued,"If you are 11- 14 years old get in one group, 15- 19 in the other."

After that was established I said,"I like my mom am making a group but in this group you may fall in love with anyone and you will be an assassin, my current members are Thalia Grace the female lieutenant, Nico Di Angelo the male lieutenant, Jack King head strategist, Theseus, who I was giving permission to revive, and Will Solace."

The campers look awed and three people step up, one a boy with black hair and eyes a fire- like color, another a girl with black hair and eyes as white as snow, the third a girl with blonde hair and sky blue eyes,

The boy says,"I'm Samuel Arch, son of Hephaestus and a fire user."

The black-haired girl says,"Serenity Page daughter of Khione I can control snow and ice."

The last girl says,"Sarah Glover daughter of Apollo with the ability to control sound."

I nodded,"You wish to join my assassins?"

They nodded and I said,"Do you three swear to obey only mine and the orders given by only those I choose and be loyal to Olympus as long as you live."

They all said,"We swear."

They began to glow gold and silver before walking to stand beside the male and female lieutenant on either side of me.

After about an hour I had around 50 members.

We left the camp that day and I decided to ask for a cabin a camp so we turned to Olympus.

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><p><strong>And that ends the titan's curse. Please review I am glad you like the story and I want some OCs for the 50 members of Percy's group I don't need all 50 just about 10 but if I get more I appreciate it.<strong>


	12. Chapter 11

**Just to be clear, Percy won't be at camp long until the battle of the labyrinth.**

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><p>ch. 11<p>

**Nico's POV**

We've followed Percy the whole winter year killing monsters, assassinating titans(I assassinated Coeus myself, Thalia assassinated Iapetus, Theseus assassinated Epimetheus), and spying on the titans.

Now we're coming back to camp and to be honest they'll barely recognize me, my hair has grown, my muscles became more defined, and my hood hides my face.

We walked into camp our black uniforms making us melt into the shadows. That prick Orion ran up with a smug look,"Who are you and why are you in my camp?"

Theseus in his black and ocean-blue assassin's clothing said,"You are right mil'lord my brother is a cocky bastard."

Orion not hearing the exchange yelled,"Hey losers I, the greatest demigod to ever live, am talking towards you."

Percy steps forward but Theseus stops him,"Allow me mil'lord, this prick will be easy."

Percy nods,"Go then Psi**(A/N:Greek letter I chose it because the symbol looks like a trident)**."

I smiled and noticed the looks of confusion, you see Percy decided that the council should erase memories of him from everyone except us, the hunters, and the gods. He became Alpha, I became Delta. Thalia became Beta, Jack became Epsilon, Theseus became Psi, Will became Gamma, and Annabeth(who joined a few days after we left camp last winter) became Theta, the rest took names connected to their godly parent.

Theseus A.K.A. Psi said,"Now you Orion will taste the power of Athena's champion."

There was murmuring as Psi strode forward with his glittering ocean-blue blade a gift from Amphitrite when Theseus disowned Poseidon for threatening Percy just because he insulted both Orions, Theseus never really has gotten over what the original did to a virgin goddess like Artemis, Amphitrite told him he was welcome at her palace anytime and that if he ever needed help to call her.

I'd met and gotten Persephone's favor for my love of moonlaces which is the only plant I can touch without it dying and Persephone loves Artemis' creation of the moonlace.

I looked back at the fight to see Orion already down and Psi's sword at his throat, I burst out laughing,"Well that didn't take long did it Beta?"

She shook her head,"No, it didn't, if we were that bad, alpha would kick us out of the assassins."

I smirked,"I doubt he's kick his girlfriend out."

She blushed under her hood,"Shut up Delta before I chase you around this camp with make up until I get you and make you look like a Aphrodite cabin make up victim."

I glared,"You wouldn't dare."

She replied,"Ask Gamma."

Alpha said,"Beta, Delta stop arguing or I swear you'll have to care for our hellhounds until the Styx freezes over."

We both covered each other's mouth shut.

Alpha turned to the campers,"Me and my assassins will stay in my cabin or their parent's cabin depending on their choice and their parent's knowledge, word of warning harass my assassins and their next target will be you, dismissed."

We all walked in different directions me heading to Alpha's cabin.

On the way I hear a group behind me,"From what I've heard from one of these assassins that guy Psi is the fourth strongest, and those other two are the second and third strongest, most of the members are scared because he picked up his father's ability to give draining punishments, he's also a god with speed and grace only matched by Lady Artemis, handsomeness of a male Aphrodite, or that's what most of the female members said, he's even still recruiting demigods, demi-titans, he even adopts mortal orphans when he finds them and gives them some of his own blood to get rid of their father's DNA, but he only does so to those to the ones that were abused, and to top it off his adopted children are as strong as the son of Poseidon, Theseus, the strongest demigods of them all when it comes to balanced skills of wisdom, power, and strength, about 90% of this is true."

I turned abruptly and say,"If you ask me it's all true, I was there when Aphrodite herself said he was a male her, Artemis admitted he was just as graceful and fast, Psi is 4th strongest, Beta is 3rd, me second, he did pick up dad's punishment giving abilities, he's the Olympian god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, he is always recruiting, he does adopt, by blood, girls that are abused getting rid of their father's DNA, his adopted children can beat a child of Zeus and a child of Hades at the same time, which Theseus could do anytime."

They look at him confused I found them,"And I'm the male Lieutenant of Alpha's assassins, of course I could feel your presence."

I walked off into Alpha's cabin to find Alpha and Theseus talking,"Theseus I'd love for you to be my son but tell me, why now 2 months later?"

Psi said,"Well I've been getting to know you and you've been a fatherly figure to me more than Poseidon ever has."

Alpha nodded,"At dinner I will adopt you."

I then decided to step in,"Alpha where's your girlfriend?"

He sighed,"She went exploring."

**Later at Dinner**

**Psi's(Theseus') POV**

Alpha got up and said,"I have an announcement, my assassin Psi was disowned by his godly father not 2 months ago and we've gotten to know each other so he asked me to adopt him and here I shall, step forward Psi, champion of Amphitrite."

I did so, remembering when Amphirtrite made me her champion.

**Flashback**

_I was sitting there growling at Poseidon,"Dad, you are raising another Orion, literally, he's exactly like Orion the hair is a light black and his eyes the green color of pond water, he has the same attitude too, if you want to protect him get him to shut his mouth or when he turns out like my older brother I'll kill him, I would have killed my older brother for what he did if Artemis hadn't gotten to him first!"_

_Poseidon yelled,"Then I Poseidon disown you Theseus and revoke the weapons I gave you."_

_After a glow I stood there weaponless._

_Poseidon flashed off leaving Amphitrite there and Alpha beside her,"Thank you for that Theseus, here."_

_She handed me a ocean-blue sword with a black glow,"This is made out of Oceanite a precious metal my father discovered, it's name Midnight, take care of it my champion."_

_I glowed ocean-blue before she flashed off leaving a small necklace with a pearl on the end which I picked up and put on and I've never taken it off since._

**Flashback end**

I stopped in front of Alpha and held out my arm.

He took his knife and cut open my arm, gasps were heard but I didn't make a sound, then Alpha cut his arm identically to mine before holding it above my own, then when his ichor touched my blood it flowed through my body until half my blood was his.

Then our cuts healed instantly and Alpha turned,"My daughters meet your new brother."

A good 5% of my 41 female members and the five that are two young to be assassins but stay with us anyway got up and pulled me to the table squealing,"Yay we got a big brother!"

Once the noise died down Chiron stood,"Now with Alpha's permission I am able to tell you about him his name is Alpha**(A/N:It's still Perseus, but he is Alpha to the campers.)** he is son of Hades and Artemis-"

"Artemis is a maiden goddess she can't have kid's a this guys an abomination!"

Alpha jumped and grabbed his throat,"Shut up now or Aunt Athena looses one of her sons, my mother was given permission to break the oath when she made it and I doubt it's a problem anyway since Ares, Apollo, and Hercules are man-whores."

Thunder rumbled and Alpha yelled,"Shut up Heracles and get back to fucking some mortal woman like the whore you are!"

The other campers were covering the younger campers' ears and Alpha said,"Sorry the bastard gets to me, he shouldn't even be a god the womanizer he is."

Some campers nod while others uncover the younger campers' ears.

Chiron continues,"He is the Olympian god of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, and leader of a group of assassins that only listen to Alpha, Zeus, Athena, Artemis, Hades, Hephaestus, Hestia, and Hera so don't get on their bad sides they have many of the strongest gods backing them."

"Now on that happy note on to the sing along."

They all filled out with some murmuring.

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><p><strong>Please review, I will put up a poll once this chapter is published please look at it.<strong>


	13. Chapter 12

**Okay guys the poll is over and Percy is now Alpha and his roman form is Noctis, Percy will be his alias in the mortal world.**

**:) thanks for voting.**

**This chapter is dedicated to ****NarniaPotterPercyClues15, ****hoOPJO, ****LimitedLegendFTW, and ****xRinneandSharinx .**

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><p>ch.12<p>

**Beta(Thalia)'s POV**

I stepped into the Zeus cabin to see a boy about 15 with black hair like mine and eyes exactly like mine, he turned,"What are you doing in my cabin?"

I said,"I'm here to pay my respects to Zeus in front of a statue of the very god, I learned how to invoke a god through their statues from my master/boyfriend Alpha."

He nodded,"I need to thank that Psi guy he saved me from being turned into a fish by Poseidon, anyway what do ya want with dad?"

I said,"I'm the daughter of the goddess Astrape, goddess of lightning sister of Bronte, goddess of thunder, Zeus is my cousin."**(A/N:these are in fact real gods if you didn't know)**

He nodded,"Well about this Alpha guy, how did you meet him?"

I said,"He found me when I was 10 sitting in a cave, my mom was captured by Ares so I was alone, then Alpha picked me up and got my mom back, when he offered me a place in his group I obliged, I've been an assassin since."

He nodded and left so I could contact father.

**Alpha's POV**

I sighed as Chiron listed the rules,"No maiming or killing, no phones, no outside drinks, and no god may harm a demigod in camp unless they are challenged to a duel."

I nodded,"Chiron you are my Great-Uncle you don't have to treat me as a child, it's mom's job."

He laughed and nodded before we left and I became bombarded by my daughter, Katelyn with her black hair and silver/midnight-blue eyes.

She asked,"Dad, can we go to the mall?"

She acts like any girl teenager does it's funny,"How about you go around camp and tell everyone to meet in the amphitheater, don't tell them but we're taking them all to get new clothes."

She smiled and ran off gathering her brothers and sisters to do the job.

**one hour later**

I sighed,I've been sitting in this chair watching as my daughters go through all their newer clothing, looking for what they like the most(Hey, I spoil my daughters, get over it!). Psi now wearing a new midnight-blue shirt, pants, shoes, hoodie(Which I instantly enchanted for when he wasn't wearing his glasses), and some sunglasses.

All my assassins got similar enchantments although they wear different colors and styles, example: Theseus wears Nikes and Jack wears Aeropostale.

Once finished I teleported them to camp and the first thing I hear is some,"Thanks dad/daddy" from my children "Thanks Alpha" from my other assassins and "Thanks Lord Alpha" from all the campers except one, Orion he says,"Thanks or whatever."

I ignored him and replied kindly before saying,"Okay, I want to spend some time with my children, begone."

Suddenly there's a flash that reveals Grandma Hera,"Alpha, my grandson gather your assassins I am going to flash you where you are needed but don't say anything to these demigods about where you're going."

I nodded quickly.

In a flash we landed outside a tunnel in San Fransico.

A tall boy about 17 with black hair and blue eyes, yelled,"Halt, identify yourselves!"

I stepped forward,"It is polite to introduce yourself before others."

He said,"I'm Dakota son of Bacchus."

My form shifted my clothes become darker, my hair becomes brown, and my eyes midnight-blue, I gain some sunglasses, I said,"I'm Noctis, son of Pluto and Diana, new Olympian god of time, night, life, creation, auras, lax nature, and assassins."

He moved to ask a question,"Diana fell in love with Pluto due to his gentleman-like nature and also she always had the ability to break it given by Zeus himself."

He nodded,"The others?"

"My assassins."

He nodded once more.

After a two minute walk we see to people in purple one a girl with black hair and obsidian eyes and a boy with blonde hair and electric blue eyes.

I walked forward and reintroduce myself with the added sentence to explain my birth.

They nod and after a bit more of boring process we walked towards the Senate House of New Rome, Psi(Theseus) asked,"What's going on?Why did you change? what's with the added domain?"

I replied,"I am in Roman form you see gods have two aspects Greece and Rome they are a major part of us this is my roman form and my added domain is to represent my laid back nature."

He nodded

Inside the Senate house after explanations a blonde haired scarecrow of a kid yelled out,"How do we know we can trust this abomination?!"

Reyna moved to hurt him but I waved her off,"Listen here Octavian, you have the gift of prophecy from my uncle Apollo right?"

He gulped,"Yes."

I smiled my face unable to be seen behind my sunglasses,"Well, my uncle owes me some favors I could always have you replaced with one of his direct descendants."

He gulped once more and I smirked at the praetors,"Let me know if you need him replaced."

Then me and my group left to camp out.

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><p><strong>Okay it's shorter but I have a week of school(8th grade's a bitch sometimes*cough* the hallways suck*cough*) so I'll work harder to make it as awesome as possible.<strong>


	14. Chapter 13

ch.13

**Katelyn's POV**

I was walking through New Rome when the Octavian guy stepped in front of me,"So you're the abomination's daughter?"

I looked up and said,"Well if it isn't the silver-tongued scarecrow?"

He growled,"Shut up your just as stupid as your father, I have Apollo's favor not him."

I rolled my eyes,"Dad said he'd call in a favor not that he had Apollo's favor, _pueri aprico_**(trans:sunshine boy)**."

I internally asked myself, _How do I know Latin? I'll talk to dad later._

I then heard,"Octavian, shut up!"

I turned to see the Praetor saying,

"Octavian you already have your cohort cursed by Noctis, you won't be able to go out at night for a week and you are on his list for trying to seduce his other daughter and you a augur are acting like you are god and can do what you want you may be a year older than me as you are 18(A/N:Is that right?), but you have no right to anger a god and have the legion take responsibility for your actions, I hereby demote you to P_robito_."

He growled and trudged off, The praetor turned to me,"Sorry."

I nodded,"It's okay, I have a tendency to kill people who talk bad about my dad so I think you helped me."

She nodded,"That's some good info anything else I need to know about children of Noctis?"

I then told her how we don't wear armor, only fight using swords, bows, knives, and hidden blades found in our bracelets that turn into vambraces with the hidden blade,

"Like Assassin's Creed 3?"

"Yep, Grandpa Pluto made Assassin's Creed in honor of my father."

Then I told her our powers and our possible abilities that very few know of,"We also have assassin sense that dad named Eagle vision in honor of Grandpa Zeus and because it's just like in assassin's creed, although it's really hard to use without practicing every day."

Then I looked at my watch 3:59 p.m.,"Damn, I got to go, see you later I got to go or dad will kill me if I'm late."

I ran off to the mess hall and sat beside my dad, he smiled at me and the Praetor calls order,"Today is the war games and we have decided it will be campers verses assassins if that is okay with you Lord Noctis."

Dad nodded,"All I ask is those under 14 not to take part, your body won't survive an encounter with me older assassins due to their skill for your safety."

**One game later(A/N:This game is an M rated thing(Blood and Gore) that I can't show due to the T rating)**

I watched as the campers a were being bandaged, their bandages red with blood, although there were no killings the wounds were extremely bad.

Beta growled,"Octavian, I am Noctis' girlfriend now get off."

I turned to see Octavian touching Beta's breasts,"Yeah right he would stop me."

Dad walked up to him and said,"Augur, why are you molesting my girlfriend?"

He turned,"Augur I now curse you for touching my girlfriend."

The Augur starts to change into a rabbit with antlers, a jackalope.

The Praetor said,"I'm not surprised, what are you going to do to him Lord Noctis?"

Dad smiles his Roman side taking over completely,"I'll give him to my mom."

With that a flash of light and the jackalope disappeared.

**Epsilon(Jack)'s POV**

I walked around remembering my talk with my mortal father a few years earlier.

**Flashback**

_I stood an six-year-old in front of a 27 year old man with black hair and red eyes,"You're a disgrace, a child of that blasted wisdom goddess, my father would kill me if he knew about you a son of Athena and legacy of Ares, pft, get out of my house and go die."_

**(A/N:I hate to write this but it's his life before Percy found him.)**

**Years later**

_I'd just told Alpha about my dad and he said,"Well if you need a father, I'd be happy to fill the role Jack, you'll be my first son."_

_I agreed and became his son_

**Flashback end**

I sighed wondering what my mom thinks, she's so busy that I never see her even on Olympus.

I wonder when I get to meet her.

_Please_, I prayed, _I want to meet you mom._

I walked towards our assassin camp wondering, _I wonder if I have any powers like Will and his Apollonian sunlight?_

I walked into camp to see my sister Annabeth or her assassin name Theta looking at plans with a big slab of marble behind her.

I walked over and looked at the blue prints of a statue dedicated to our mother for our camp. As I concentrated I felt a huge power inside me that pulled at the plans, I stiffened.

Annabeth turned,"What's wrong bro?"

I said,"I just felt some power inside me it's pulling towards the plans."

She nodded,"Try it."

I did so and thought about the plans before turning to the statue and with a touch it etched itself into the statue instantly, with color I might add, Annabeth smiled,"Okay we have more statues to make these big ones go to Alpha's cabin and we all carry a statue of each of the patron gods for us to call aid when we need it, it seems Alpha thought of us being separated I think he may even put us in groups corresponding with the patrons."

I nodded and said,"I'll get some sleep and we can do this at night where I have an abundance of energy."

She nodded and I went to my tent.

**Alpha's POV**

"Nico, I'm off to Olympus with Beta, keep watch." I ordered

**Later**

Zeus asked,"Does anyone else have anything to discuss?"

I stepped up,"I have something I want to do?"

Zeus said,"Proceed."

I brought out a small box and kneeled before Thalia,"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of my assassins, will you marry me and become goddess of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins?"

She jumped up and yelled,"Yes, Alpha I will!"

Zeus called,"Thalia Grace from now on you will be Beta, goddess of time, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, I also gift you with the domain goddess of the sky, you will be the female leader of the assassins and it will now be called the Assassins of Olympus instead of the assassins of Alpha as we chose to name it."

With that the gods shoot beams of energy into Thalia before she begins to glow with immortality.

Zeus after Thalia got used to the power called,"This meeting is now over Alpha and Beta, you are now married due to us gods never having time for an actual wedding due to us doing our jobs or getting to know our wife/husband in the time a wedding would waste, but you are still married if Hera agrees."

Everyone turned to Hera,"I agree these are my favorites after all."

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><p><strong>Boom, more to come next chapter, see where the newly weds will go, gods are kinda weird aren't they? Anyway review.<br>**


	15. Chapter 14

ch.14

**Beta's POV**

I smiled as Katelyn bounced around me chanting,"I have a mom, I have a mom, I have a mom!"

I laughed,"Well if you want to be specific I'm your step-mom."

She continued the chant even as we walked into Camp Half-Blood.

But of course something interrupted the fun,"So you morons are back."

I stepped forward,"I just get married yesterday and you have to annoy me, one more word from you and I will blast you, your father won't do anything to anger all the goddesses on the Olympian council including myself, Beta, daughter of Zeus, goddess of time, the sky, night, life, creation, auras, and assassins, newest Olympian."

He stepped back quickly.

Alpha said,"Beta, honey, I seriously think you need to stop showing off your scaring possible recruits."

I smiled and laughed lightening the mood and the sky, which I just noticed had darkened in my anger,"Okay shadow boy."

**An hour of congratulations later**

**Alpha's POV**

I stopped Beta from attacking someone as everyone left, someone being Orion, I walked up behind him and said,"You've angered a goddess, that's not smart."

He turned saying,"She won't do Shit-"

He stopped when he saw it was me,"Word of the wise Seaboy, she will she's as stubborn and headstrong as her father, Zeus."

He gulped,"Thanks."

I smiled,"You better pray to your father, because she might call my mother to get you and you don't want the goddess of the hunt after you. "

He nodded.

I feel so bad, he won't survive to see the morning, the damage is done I'm just fanning the flames so he pisses his pants when it happens.**(A/N:If you thought this was funny then review LOL XD and you'll get an explanation on whatever you want in the story)**

I walked off to have a night with my wife.

The Next Day

I woke up with Thalia beside me and when I got up I panicked, got dressed and left a note before going to talk to my mom.

The hunt's camp

I ran into my mom's tent to see her sitting there playing with her wolf, I said,"Mom, can you meet me at Aphrodite's Palace?"

She nodded and we flashed off, once inside and settled I looked at Aphrodite,"I know you spiked my drink and caused some adult content to happen between me and Thalia but this is too far you put her fertility level at top-notch, I'm not exactly mad but from what I learned in Biology it should take at least 4 months for the baby to have developed this fast so can either of you explain?"

Mom nods,"Godly babies are born within the first week and grow to teen years before being able to use their powers you were stopped from that by the Lotus Casino, Aphrodite estimate."

She nodded and said,"Due to Thalia's health, domains, and the time this happened, I'd say the baby will be born within the next day and will be grown into toddler years after birth due to the domains being in full effect to help with this, unlike with you, the baby will grow into the age of ten by the end of the month then grow like a mortal, but with you, you were conceived in the day and in the mortal world slowing your growth extremely because with even with the Lotus Casino you would have been at least in a 15-year-old form by then instead of 11-year-old form."

I nodded,"Thanks, mom can you break this to Beta, I want to go tell dad."

She nodded smiling.

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><p><strong>How will Hades react? How will Beta react?c Hell, how will the assassins react? Sorry it was short but this is just the perfect time to end it where it's not too short but not too long.<strong>


	16. Chapter 15

**I'm going to skip through some things and I have 4 reasons**

**I don't want Daedalus to die because he's cool.**

**I am being challenged to complete the story in this chapter.**

**I want Kronos _dead_**!

**Because it lets me go on with one of my 10 story ideas to go along with my other story, Perseus Grace, Thalia's twin brother.**

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><p>ch. 15<p>

**Alpha's POV**

I walked into my dad's throne room after a short greeting and a explanation, dad said,"Cool, I've always wanted a grandchild."

I looked at him then wondered how Thalia would take it.

**Artemis' POV**

I watch as Thalia stomps around Aphrodite's palace destroying everything she gets her hands on.

She kept doing that and I smiled as Aphrodite came in and I whispered,"You might want to run."

She nodded and ran, Thalia right behind her.

**2 years later(A/N:So the baby was born and was to have domains decided after this war, oh there's another reason, the baby was named Rex)**

**Alpha's POV**

I stepped forward as Kronos said,"Ah, Alpha, god of assassins, you and your assassins have slowed my victory and now I will watch as my army dispatches you."

I sighed,"Assassins, go I'll handle old man clock here."

I took my sword and jumped he sidestepped bringing his scythe down, I dodged and slashed horizontally, he jumped and lunged at me, I smashed his foot making him jump up before bringing my blade down, he recovered and attacked his scythe changing into a sword, I brought mine up and blocked, a crater is made from the clash, electricity literally arcing around us due to the power of the clash, I said,

"Kronos you must have noticed you are losing my assassins are assassinating the other titans, you will be assassinated by the god of assassins."

He growled,"I won't give up, I am the titan of time."

I smiled and slashed at him.

I watched as Beta jumped on Thetis, her blade cutting gashes into the titaness.

I watched as Mom and her hunters, along with the campers fought the huge army.

I watched as my assassins each attacked one of the titans that showed up.

My dad and his undead warriors left death in their wake.

Kronos jumped at me and I blocked clashing once more

Then I remembered something my dad told me.

**Flashback**

_"When you are in a huge battle and you find yourself on par with your enemy, always remember your domains help you watch for the power. Never lose sight of why you fight." My dad said_

_"I will dad" I replied_

_My black cloak flowing as I danced with my wife._

**Flashback end**

Kronos said,"Yes my army is overpowering yours, heh, maybe I'll use that mother of yours to get me some loyal children, she'll be a real treat."

My eyes darkened the color completely black with no whites, I became aware of all the energy of the night, stealing time energy from Kronos' body, I gathered the life energy of everyone, a dome of power created itself around me and Kronos, I gained energy from the assassinations that took place, and I took Kronos' aura making him powerless.

I slashed my sword cutting Kronos horizontally in half, then I took my blade with both hands and cut him vertically in half.

I smashed my sword into his chest and he fell apart.

I looked as Thalia took her spear and stabbed at Thetis' chest, She stabbed her chest and twisted it as the Titaness dissolved, mom was a whirlwind killing A dozen dracaena, twenty Laistrygonians, and three hydras.

Katelyn mashed her mace into a drakon's head.

Theseus stabbed an enemy son of Ares in the chest before running past, incapacitating a enemy son of Hecate, knocking out a son of Khione, decapitating another son of Ares**(A/N:No one cares for Ares do they?)**, breaking a son of Iris' arm, and quickly killing three telkhines.

My immortal son, Rex assassinates Prometheus, then moves on and kills a hydra with one stab(How the?).

I watched as Jack assassinated his Titan, Annabeth hers, Will his, and Nico utterly destroyed his.

I jumped into the battle and killed a Laistrygonian, and I stabbed a enemy demigod before moving on and tearing a telkhine apart, I destroyed a Hyperborean giant, and decimated the dracaena population.

It took the enemy army an hour to notice Kronos was defeated making them retreat and the rest of the enemy demigods surrendered peacefully except the sons of Ares, stubborn morons.

Then we were called to a meeting.

At the meeting Zeus lets me take lead,"Heroes you have all fought well and we wish to give you rewards out of the 10 of you allowed to be here all those who are not assassins raise your hands."

They did so and were beckoned forward.

I nodded,"Clarisse La Rue, we the council gift you with the title 'weapons master' at Camp Half-Blood."

"Katie Gardener, I name you Champion of Demeter and camp psychologist."

They both smiled, Clarisse nodded,"Thank you Lord Alpha this is what I've wanted."

Katie said,"I think my gift is what I would have wished for if given the choice."

I nodded,"Lee Fletcher your father wishes to ask you your wish."

He said,"I would like a quiver of unlimited sonic arrows."

"It shall be done, now my male Lieutenant, Nico I offer you the position god of shadows and darkness."

He smiled,"I accept."

With that the gods shoot beams of energy into Nico before he began to glow with immortality.

I said,"Annabeth Chase, your mother offers you a place as her immortal handmaiden, you have full permission to leave the assassins and may join us for assassinations whenever you want even if you won't be a member."

She nodded,"I accept."

She then went to stand with her mother,"Jack you will become my immortal strategist."

He smiled.

Will,"You will be my immortal healer."

Again smiles.

"Finally, my son Rex we must converse on your domains."

He nodded.

I turned and whispered,"I say we kick Dionysus off the council and make my son an Olympian the god of Heroes, wisdom, strength, bravery, humility, and swordsmanship, what use is wine anyway except something that makes men cheat on their wives."

The goddesses nodded.

Everyone except Dionysus agreed, we turned back,"Rex we have decided you will be the Olympian god of Heroes, wisdom, strength, bravery, humility, and swordsmanship, replacing Dionysus who will become a minor god, we also name your domain to be Camp Half-Blood."

The half-bloods cheered.

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><p><strong>There you go I hope you liked it I will post a notice on this chapter when I start the story to replace this since it is complete.<strong>


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